Freedom's Just Another Word

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose
Nothing don't mean nothing hon' if it ain't free"

I awoke with these words on my mind this morning. Hadn't thought of that song or Janis Joplin since I was about fifteen and doing an oral report on her life. My mom thought I'd lost it, crossed over the edge into the world of drugs, just because I decided to do my report on Janis Joplin. Funny, the only reason I chose Janis was because we could dress up to look like one of the characters we were reporting on. I thought it would be cool to come to school in jeans and a floppy hat with my hair frizzed out everywhere. Little did I know what the song was about or really much about Janis' life until that report done around 1973. This isn't about Janis Joplin, it's about freedom. What is it? Janis and Kris Kristofferson said 'it ain't nothing if it ain't free.'

What's really free? There are sale specials: Buy one Get one free! But that's not really free! You had to pay for it, you just paid half price. Freedom as we know it in the U.S. still costs, doesn't it? So what is free? Life, the life Christ died to give us that we might have it in abundance. Even though we believe in him, we struggle to put our faith and trust in a being we cannot see. We aren't sure He will make the same decisions we make which makes it harder to trust. Yet, He made the decision to come down from heaven and die for us to show us the way to eternal life. Do you think that's only about the after life?

I don't. I think he meant for us to have abundant life here on earth. I'm not on the same page with Creflo Dollar concerning prosperity. I believe God meant for us to live this life abundantly. To live as Christ lived, to follow the examples of the heroes of faith we find in the Old and New Testaments. How? Achieve, acquire and advance? Or humble oneself and serve one another; love one another and care for one another's needs.

Is it really foolish to consider this kind of lifestyle? Check out Psalm 133:

How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity
It's like the oil that runs down the beard, down Aaron's beard and upon the
collar of his robe. It's like the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forever more.

In a dream I reached out to help someone who was imprisoned. I went incognito into the prison, posing as a policeman and obtained the release of the prisoner into my custody. We walked out of the prison and across the border of the country and onto a plane. Seated on the plane while it was flying an amazing rainbow like the aurora borealis came into view first on the outside of the plane then literally inside the plane.

I pondered that dream for a number of years. I believe it's about extending my hand to the poor, needy, rejected and despised and rejected ones. Oh, you don't fit in that category? Well maybe you are like me in the dream, required to stretch out your hand to help another? It's the place God bestows the blessing! Even life forevermore! Try it, you'll like it!