I kept hearing strange noises in my office at church yesterday. At first I thought the source was coming from outside the building, but later I became convinced that some living creature had become trapped in the walls of the church building.
The sound was coming from different places at first. Then it settled in one area, the wall between my office and a classroom. Our youth minister came in, and I told him what was happening. He quickly sprang into action.
Daniel climbed up into the ceiling with a light strapped on his forehead. He was soon able to determine that the creature was a bird, and that it had reached a place where a wire kept him from flying around. A quick call to our maintenance man confirmed that we needed to cut a hole in the wall to get to the bird. After a few minutes of cutting through the drywall with a utility knife, Daniel was able to set the bird free.
Like the bird trapped in the wall, we were once caught up in our sins. Helpless and unable to free ourselves from our predicament, we had to be rescued. That’s what God did for us in Jesus. He saved us when we could not save ourselves. He set us free to live a new life, trapped in our sins no more.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”—Romans 8:1-2.
I just found out that today is National Siblings Day. I didn’t even know that there was such a day, but it seems like a pretty good idea. 
