Chillin of the Almighty

Oh, being as how I'm so sleepy I could cry (paraphrasing Hank Sr.), and it's pre-dawn and such, this might take a while to write. Then again, maybe not.

Ten years ago about this time), I was lost. I was very, very, intensely, inexplicably, undoubtedly lost. I stumbled along like a man who knew no victory, not even a tie or two along the way. I knew if there true-isms to be found, God would allow me to find them. But, no other words, no other incantations, no programed prayers or programed words would save me.

Darkness reigned. Darkness swirled. Darkness was the winner of a game I couldn't even play, any longer.

I had been called out of the wilderness, my sandals were torn asunder, and my feet were failing me.

Then, Christ.

Katrina, sure. But Christ, for sure.

So, this morning as the sun crawls up out of some backwater dive, about as fast as my eyes begin to droop (making me wonder what golf could possibly be like in the coming hours), I will move down memory lane with you.

Scriptures tell us this: "For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you."

And just that suddenly, everything is as it should be; everything is guaranteed, everything is new, everything is fine, better than fine, better than anything could be even if we tried our best and hardest and, well, finest.

Why?

God's promise belongs to us. Just, that, flipping, simple.

God promised an inheritance, and being as we are his heirs and all, we get it.

Paul writes, "We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world."

We were beholden. Then we were not (well, oh, well, again) because of the very simple basic idea that God's love conquers not just the world, not just a nation or two here and there but each and every nation and each and every government and each and every country as such. We don't have to rise up. We simply have to live, breathe and exist as one of God's children, all one day, TODAY.

"Before (you) Gentiles knew God, (you) were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that (you) know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world?" Paul writes to churches in Galatia?

The big ol' honking answer is, we DON'T. We just don't. We are saved, found, loved. Let it be, as another Paul wrote and sang.

If we could simply grasp that, man, oh man would things be different? I'm not sure we could even hold all the joy that would be given because God promised such. But man, oh man, it would be fun to try to receive those rewards.

For we are all children of God. Every flipping one. Every. We are. This morning. Saved.

Paul tries to get us to understand, going through details in an elaborate plan that needs to be given. But it all comes down to this: While I was still falling apart, while my mess was still very, very visible to the world, while I was all sorts of bat-stuff crazy, Christ died for me, for you, for all of us.

That's the plan. That's the deal. That's the amazing, wonderful, awesome plan of attack against Satan. We can't fix ourselves. He can fix us. Therefore, let the camera roll 'cause soon and very soon He's gonna come back again. As the director barks, "Action." And action it is.

Eyes front, Eyes on Jesus, Faith in our pocket, Trust-camera batteries ready to rock and roll, and Heaven can't wait at all.

"Oh, my dear children!" Paul screams, tears being held back by a film so thin yet so powerful that only the absolute strength of the Holy Spirit, who has no explanation whatsoever, could raise the Christian flag out there in Jesus-land. "So Christ has truly set us free. Now. Make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."

No, sir. Not me. Not now. Not ever. I'm done with all that slavery stuff, and I've sunken my teeth into the grace of God that never loses.

Right there, right there, the sweetness of the fruit on the true and only vine smiles at the vast-ness of summer's sky.

The sky is beautiful this morning in a cloudy, adoptive manner.

Look up at it my sweet dear friends. We are God's chillin. Ain't God grand?