Verse:

They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Mark 1:27 (NRSV)

Thought:

There she sits, she is sitting in her special seat. Each time she "uses" the special seat properly, she gets a JuJu fruit. That's right, Casey is in Potty School. She is learning a new way to live. And it is my guess that this is going to be a little more trying than when we house broke Hailey years ago. This is going to take time and patience. It will be different for all of us.

Hear the Good News, Christ offers us a new way to live, and through time, we will embrace this new life. This new life will take patience, apologies, grace and love. As Casey comes to understand this new way of life, she will come to appreciate it to no end. As we come to understand the new life in Christ, we too will come to appreciate it to no end as well. We, like Casey, will recognize those tendencies and feeling that might lead us back to where we are or were, instead of where it is we want to be. And just as Casey is able to recognize the feelings and then be able to respond accordingly, we too will know how to respond to the temptations and challenges the world provides. Last night, OUR President, outlined a vision and mission to a new way of life. The reality is that there will be some challenges along the way, but, if we face this new way of life, with the same patience, apologies, love and grace, the vision and mission, which was cast might just get us closer to where we want to and need to be. As Christ comes into our life and begins to lay out a pattern of new life for us, we give Him, even at some times a great deal of conflict, authority over our life. We know there will be setbacks along our journey, yet we also know that Christ and His ever present love will see us through all the setbacks and challenges of our life.

Prayer: