What next, Papa?

How cool is this...

You may recall from my posting on Why I started calling Dad "Papa" that I sought to turn the "Abba" portion of Romans 8:15-16 into something personally meaningful. I settled on "Papa."

The verses read like this: "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

I visited my sister Jan in Oregon a few weekends ago. She has long recognized where I'm missing the boat in my trust of God; she was once there herself and is now so far from it--so deeply trusting in God, even as her strength rises and falls while dealing with cancer and chemo. She printed out all of Romans 8 for me in two translations: New International Version and The Message. (What a fascinating presentation of the concepts in this second version of that passage...read it, would you?)

With all that background, we arrive at what stunned me. Look how The Message translated the Abba verse: "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike 'What's next, Papa?' God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children."

What a response to my squirmy, discontent, fearful pleas in my No trust post. What a beautiful opportunity for me to view life with such a perspective of trust: "What next, Papa?"