Soaking in the morning sun I stretch my legs out to catch all the rays I can. I tip the red umbrella slightly to keep those magnificant rays from my eyes. The heat feels good, however this morning the humidity is still at bay. The tweets are busy about the yard pecking and singing. I close my eyes and my heart sings with them. Sweet tunes of greatful praises to my God.

I open my bible and read in Genesis 4 the account of Cain and Abel, two brothers who lived life totally differently even though they came from the same parents and grew up in the same home. Abel took care of the sheep and Cain grew food. As custom then they presented an offering to God from their labor. There were probably specific regulations regarding this offering. It appears that Abel cared enough to bring God the firstborn fattest sheep he had, whereas Cain brought and offered some fruit. No elaborate description is given of this fruit. I am assuming Cain was either stingy, or just didn’t care that much about God and their relationship to offer him fresh, succulant, first fruit. Those of you who grow gardens know what I’m talking about. At any rate I believe his heart was hard, his thoughts were negative he wasn’t willing to offer his best which resulted in wrong behavior. God gave him some loving and wise advice that if he did what was wrong then he would not be accepted, and if he didn’t control sin, then sin would control him.

Even after God had this talk with Cain he still went out and killed his brother.

Today, are you listening and acting on Gods advice, or are you out there “raising some cain”?