Welcome to Coffee with Christ.  I’m Nikol Jones and you are listening to episode 2. 

If you’re new here, you might want to go back and listen to the Introduction episode, so you can get the gist of what this podcast is all about and my hope for our time together.

I truly believe God’s word changes people.  It changes them verse by verse and chapter by chapter. It is a magnificent and marvelous thing these ancient words that are written for us and have stood the test of time. 

Since this is new to everyone – including me – here are some reminders.  We’ll start with a few minutes of silence to help you slow down, settle in, clear the clutter, and breathe. 

I read from the New Living Translation and you can follow along in your Bible, but my hope is that you’ll just listen because that is how God’s people heard it when it was brand new.

If you need more time to think about something you heard, just hit the pause button and take your time.  At the end, I’ll guide you through another set of questions to help you ponder the passage more. 

Occasionally, I might write something about what I learned during my time with God.  You can find those thoughts on coffeewithchrist.org.  I’ll put a link in the show notes in case you’re interested. 

Now, take a deep breath.

Seriously, take a deep breath. 

And let’s get started by being still. 

 

What is stirring in your heart today?  What has your mind in a flutter?  Use the next few minutes to jot them down or say them out loud to God.  Ask him to shift your focus from these things, to Him.

 

Yesterday, we read through Genesis chapter 1.  We saw God create everything – well almost everything. 

He created light and night,the heavens and the earth,the sun, moon, and the stars. He created time and seasons. He created the sky and the dry ground, and everything that lives on and in them: 

the fish of the sea,the birds of the air,animals,and He created human beings. 

He created an order to things and even though he could have created all things in one glorious day, He paced Himself over six.  And He saw that it was all very good. 

Genesis 2

So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested* from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The Man and Woman in Eden

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs* came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon (Pee-Shon), flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon (Ji-hON), flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur (Assur). The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tre