God is the GOAT! (God Of All Times)

Adventures in Pastorland: How do start your day? Coffee? Hot shower? Prayer and devotion time? Exercise? Not those in Pastorland- we like to free range, which means you can’t really predict what any one or any thing will be doing at any moment.  We and the animals have fully embraced the free will given to us by God. 
      Crybaby (the goat) likes to start his by peeking through the windows of the house to see what’s happening. And today, I decided that what was happening was peek-a-boo! Crybaby liked playing peek-a-boo, it appears, until I looked back.  He must have been afraid of who might see him. And that seems to have scared him to the point that I fear I will never get a video to prove to everyone how fun my little goat can be. 
      He is no longer looking into my window in the mornings, although he continues to look in the office windows at my husband.   
     And for those of you who have not had the pleasure and joy of meeting Mr. Edmiston yet, he does not play peek-a-boo with goats.  With babies, yes.  With the chickens, yes.  With goats no, because if a goat chooses to put a stop to the game, he might just decide to break the window with his horns or head. 
      Crybaby has a lot in common with the humans who are afraid to actually connect with God, making a two way relationship. 
      People like to look at things with a safety barrier between them.  Most of us are not going to jump into the ocean to swim with sharks without a safety cage so there’s no danger of becoming a snack for the great white shark.  If you go to a zoo, you want a fence and a water barrier to protect you from the big cats.  We even want glass and bars to protect us from the monkeys and chimpanzees, lest things get “messy” if you know what I mean. 
     Humans do the same thing when they are afraid of God.  They use their jobs, their families to “prevent” being able to find the time to connect with God.  God always has a connection to them, but that is the very thing they are afraid to seek.  They can see what an impact God has in the lives of friends and neighbors, but they just don’t think they can afford the time those other people appear to put into their “God time”.
      This  does not mean the unconnected ignore God.  They pray when something bad happens and there is panic and fear.  And God celebrates and is with each of them when they are in that dark time.  But when the crisis passes, the fearful take a step back, because everything is fine. So why continue to engage with God? 
      Crybaby was purchased from a sheriff's auction after having been in their custody for 30 days.  Yes, Crybaby probably ended up there because he escaped a pen somewhere (see how that free will can get you in trouble?) and no one looked for him at the sheriff's feed lot. 
      He won’t let us pet him, and if we have apple slices, he lets his big buddy, Lucius, taste them first.  When  the sunsets, he returns to his pen and waits patiently for someone to bring his bucket of feed and to let him in. 
      While he eats his goat chow and cracked corn, Crybaby will allow Jeff to touch his back.  But NO PETTING! 
      Are we the same?  Do we refuse to let God have control for fear we will be too close to God for our own comfort?
 
God is GOAT- God Of All Times

---