A week or so ago my grandson, Zion, was trying to catch butterflies while they were landing on the flowers in front of the house. My wife said to him, "Quit trying to catch my butterflies!" His response was kind of funny but full of truth when he said, "Nana, those butterflies aren’t yours, they belong to God."

I knew what she meant but the truth is that God created them and has rightful ownership of all His creation. We like to think we are in control of almost everything and we like to claim ownership of anything and everything. We like to make money and we like to spend it, to buy things that we can say are ours.

We definitely like to think we are in control of ourselves and our present and future. We like to make our own decisions and plans. The Bible says that if we want to become Christians we have to give up this ownership of ourselves and sign over the deed of our lives to God. The scriptures say that we are bought with a price; meaning Christ gave up himself on the cross for us. We must decide to let God have complete control of our decisions and the direction of our lives. There is a bumper sticker that says, "God is my copilot," which is really missing the point. It should read, "God is my pilot," meaning He is the one doing the steering and the one in complete control.

The truth is that God will not force us to give up our ownership but for those who choose not to, there is a road that leads to failure, disappointment and tragedy. To those who willingly submit themselves, there is a road that leads to success, happiness and eternal life.

Just a reminder that we will be having our VBS from July 21-25 from 6-8 p.m. To register call 445-0196.

Pastor Steve Lane