In the breeze

Imagine having all of the Bible stories happening all at the same time, in your local area, like a "Greatest hits" event. Faith of Abraham, miracles of Moses, worship of David, dream interpretation of Daniel, obedience of Ezekiel, prophesy of Isaiah, wisdom of Solomon, Paul standing firm in persecution and the revelation of John. You'd need to add a good measure of love to keep everything on track, but what a sight that would be. Jesus embodied all these things and said that WHOEVER believed in Him would do the works He did and even greater things. How? Because He was sending the Helper. Each of the great heroes of faith had one thing in common. The Holy Spirit. None of their great deeds were done apart from Him. The Holy Spirit is the one who turns hearts towards Jesus, who teaches the truths in the word. He convicts, encourages, comforts and empowers. He grows love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in those who say yes....

 Lately, I've been pondering Adam and Eve eating the fruit they weren't supposed to. Literal or not, what does it demonstrate of God and humanity?  The first temptation was to know stuff without asking God.  Ouch! The first temptation was to know stuff without asking God. From the beginning, God intended for us to walk and talk with Them (Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit), but that wasn't enough for Adam and Eve. They chose an "upgrade', to know what was good and evil for themselves. Independence. There are ideas that Christianity is about keeping a whole lot of rules. Sadly, these ideas originated from the demonstration within the Church, but that isn't really it. Following Jesus is a "reset to factory settings", back to a walking, talking, asking, learning, ongoing conversation and relationship with the Creator of the universe - Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Adoption into this family means death to independence. Laying down independen...