Verse of the week --John 8:36

While curiosity may have killed that cat, it has often caught the raccoon as well. In Where the Red Fern Grows Billy's grandfather explains how to catch a 'coon with not much more than a few nails, and the reason it would work? Curiosity and stubbornness.


This site explains about a humane trap for raccoons that will catch them alive in a similar way. All you need to do is set up a bottle with something intriguing inside that they can stick their hand in, but once they grasp the object of interest, they can't get their hands out. They will not put down that object no matter how much their life depends on it.

Seems so silly, doesn't it? Yet how often are we trapped when all we need to do is let go?


For someone reason, I kept coming back to this story about trapping coons and realizing that there are still things in my life that I hold on to with childish curiosity and human stubbornness. In fact, the true freedom only comes when we let go of that "object of interest." John 8:36 says, "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."


Some say we as Christians are trapped. So many scriptural laws to follow. So many proverbial "do's and don'ts" in our lives. Yet, we are truly free. Anyone in sin is a servant of sin. So many are still running around with their hand in the bottle. They may look free, but as long as they won't loosen their grip, they will never know complete freedom.


Freedom from guilt, fear, punishment, doubt, pain, and regret just to name a few. Freedom within the care and protection of a loving Father.


I want to keep evaluating my life, watching as God continues to peel back my fingers that I could not release on my own as they cling to "my" stuff. Continually embracing pure freedom in Christ.

Are you truly free?

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

~John 8:36~