Jesus and Me ... and the Cats

Romans 8:1 4-17a (NSRV)       For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”    it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,   and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ ... Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)                For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. "RELEASE THE BABY!" That's one of my favorite lines from the animated movie, "The Croods."  It's from the first hunting scene when Sandy, a fierce and fearless toddler, is set loose to join the hunt. The Croods are a family of cave people who live in a harsh and hostile prehistoric world.  They have survived by living by the rules on their cave walls.  Curiosity is bad.  Leaving the safety of their cave at night is bad.  Anything new

Ephesians 1:15-23 Luke 24:44-53 "The Lord works in mysterious ways with wonders to perform," the old saying goes.  Sometimes there's a two-by-four and a crowbar involved.  Maybe not literally, but ..." The time I tore down the old chicken coop in the back yard, I spent a lot of time with a crowbar, prying off boards, taking apart the frame of the little building and removing nails.  There's a screeching noise that old, long nails make when they are pried from the two-by-fours they have been holding together for years. For years, I've described myself as a "two-by-four Christian" because sometimes it takes a whack from the Holy Spirit equivalent of a two-by-four to get my attention.  I also know what it feels like to be that nail that has to be pried out, screeching, from my comfort zone and complacency where I have embedded myself in order for my heart and mind to be open to the the opportunities and God possibilities that await me i