First Ever Post

Hello!
Bear with me...this is my first ever post...not to mention first ever blog. In case you're a little confused about what a blog with a name like "Random thoughts from a history-geek & Jesus-freak" could be about, I'll give you the lo-down.
Well...one things for sure...posts aren't going to be overly organized. (Hence the word random.) Some stuff is going to be about history - mainly Civil War. (If you know me, I'll assume this isn't surprising to you.) Some stuff will be things about God - scripture that really stand out to me and why, things God is revealing to me in my life - just musings, basically. And I suppose alot of stuff will be just random things that pop into my head or that happened during the week. So. Make sense?
Moving on to something of substance...
Okay. So, lately I've been really thinking about a point Derek (my awesome youth-pastor) brought up at 6fourteen (our awesome youth-group) a few months ago. Well, I can't remember specifics (like I said, it was a few months ago) but it was something to the effect of "un-amazing grace." That statement really hit me. I am growing up in an awesome, gospel-centered, Sovreign Grace church, and in an awesome, gospel-centered home... I mean, daily - hourly, really - discussions are generally centered around the gospel! Yeah, like, my four-year-old sister goes around telling little kids at pre-school "ya know, Jesus died on the cross for your sins! He didn't have to, but he did - because we are sinners and couldn't do it ourselves." You get the picture. Sadly, grace can become a little "un-amazing" when you're saturated with it day in and day out. It becomes normal. But when you really think about it - it is not normal at all.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which is now at work in the sons of disobidience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immesureable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Wow. Just soak that up for a minute. There is so much to be gleaned from that passage. But God. Don't you love it when the Bible says "but God"? Notice it never says "but God...decided that we were a bunch of losers and gave up on us." No. Whenever it says "but God" you can be sure that something radical is about to happen. Something so amazing and life-giving that our little brains can't comprehend fully comprehend it. "Um, excuse me, God, but...how exactly is that possible? I think my brain has just been fried..." But we don't have to fully understand it. All we need is to beleive. God has already done all the rest.
In conclusion...it would be really nice if someone were to comment. (Hint, hint.) I just want to know what you think. And any suggestions will be welcomed with open arms. So...until next time...
~ Elisabeth