Welcome to Coffee with Christ.  I’m Nikol Jones and you are listening to episode 4.   

This is a place where we put normal, ordinary relationship practices to use in our time with God.  Hopefully, it is a time marked on your calendars daily.  If not, you have come to a great place to start making an appointment for visiting with Him each day. 

This is not your normal podcast.  I don’t talk too terribly much and there are lots of pauses to give you time to breathe and to listen.  If you’re new here, go back and listen to the Introduction episode.  It will help you get the gist of things so there are no surprises. 

These episodes are around 20 minutes and the plan is to post them every work day until we get to the end of Genesis.  If you need more time on any given section, just hit pause.  Remember, not rushing is what makes this time with Him more beautiful. 

OK.

Let’s get started by taking a deep breath,

By releasing the stresses of the day,

And by being still. 

-Interlude-

There are many things that keep us up at night.  And there are more tasks to be done than we can sometimes manage to do in our boundary of time.  If you find your thoughts are swirling and can’t seem to  get a handle on them, use the next few minutes to speak them out loud or to write them all out.  Ask God to shift your focus from those things to the things of Heaven. 

-Interlude-

We are cruising through the book of Genesis.  In the first two chapters, we heard the creation story.  We heard about the gifts and the boundaries God placed on Adam & Eve. 

Yesterday, we read about the Fall of Mankind.   How Adam & Eve violated the boundaries God set before them.  And we heard about a Just and Compassionate God who pursued His people in their sin and made a covering for their shame. 

Let’s listen to the New Living Translation of Genesis chapter 4.  I use this translation of the Bible a lot because it is more conversational.  So, if you are following along in your Bible, the words will more than likely be just a bit different.  Let’s get started:

Chapter 4

Cain and AbelNow Adam* had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced* a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”* And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment* is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless