declare The Lewis Family. Campus Outreach Thailand

almost a wild ride

This past weekend one of Sherry's sisters and her family took us down to her in-laws place down in Butler, Georgia. We had a great time doing what we all wanted to do, mainly nothing. Saturday after noon my brother-in-law, Gary, and his dad, Jimmy, saddled up five horses for us and we went for a ride.

I wanted a horse that would possibly give me a great thrill as it ran wild through woods and jumped over fallen trees and small steams. But as soon as I climbed up on my horse, April, I changed my mind. The older I get the harder the ground gets. I was pretty nervous as we began our trail ride. I didn't feel like I had much control over April, cause I didn't. She pretty much did what she wanted to do and fell in line for the ride...well for her the carry. About half way through the journey I had control. I could get her to go, turn left and right, stop, and back-up.

I had a plan. I would make my way to the back of the line, stop, turn around, walk a little bit the other way up the dirt road and then turn April around and catch up to the group by getting her to gallop or trot (what-ever you call it...like a human jog...but you don't say "the horse jogged"...do you?). Well, I got her to stop, turn around and walk the other way...but only for about four feet or eight hooves...she stopped and would not walk another step. I tried every thing...I said everything...like h-yiii, giddy-up, come-on girl, move, to infinity and beyond...ok,I didn't say that, but I would have if I was further away from my family. She would not budge. So I turned her around, let the group move on ahead and then made a "click, click" with my mouth and off we went. It was awesome, she started running, I have never been on a horse when it was running, I loved it. I did it a few more times, as much as I could until the ride was over. I can check riding a running horse off my list now.

Aren't we like April, scared to leave the group, to do something different than what is normal, weary of new directions and paths, timid to listen to commands of others? Horses like to run, I was wanting her to run. If she had of obeyed my commands we could have run further and longer, but we both had to be satisfied with short bursts of sheer fun.

What is God wanting me to do that I am being timid of? God loves to "run" His glory all over my life and the world. In what ways am I missing out on running with Him? I need to trust Him with all of life. I need to trust Him with His timing, specifically His timing in giving us His "click-click" for getting over to Thailand. I will wait for His voice and make sure to listen to His commands for His glory and my good.