Bridge of Grace

When I was a teenager I spent six years taking Karate.  Our lessons not only included learning different fighting combinations and blocking techniques, we were also required to memorize a number of creeds.  These creeds often served not only as lessons on why we learn karate, but also lessons on life itself.  When I was 12, I learned a creed that was very short, but ultimately served to teach a valuable lesson: "To Know, and not yet to do, is not yet to Know."  This is a creed that I never forgot, and interestingly enough, it is also a lesson that was taught by my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.   Jesus taught us that Salvation is not something that can be earned through works and deeds, it is a gift that is offered freely by God, we need only to accept it.  Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly tells us that we are only saved through Grace and not by works.  However, some then ask the question "If Grace is Freely Offered, then why is that Christians always seem to preach the necessity

On Feb. 19th, 2018, Boko Haram kidnapped 110 young girls aged 11-19 from Dapchi, Nigeria, located 170 miles northwest of Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls in 2014.  Five girls died during the kidnapping and 104 were later released.  However, one young girl was not released.  Her name is Leah Sharibu.  Leah was 14 years old when she was kidnapped, and the reason she wasn't released was because she refused to renounce her faith in Christ.  For this reason, Boko Haram refused to release Leah and instead forcibly married her to one of their militant leaders.   Boko Haram chose to do this because under Sharia Law, if a non-Muslim woman marries a Muslim man, she is automatically considered to be Muslim, as are her children.  Since her captivity began Leah has been repeatedly raped by her militant "husband" and has given birth to two children.  Now, at the age of 18, she is still in captivity and it's unknown if she will ever be freed again.  Boko Haram has vowed