The Right Fit

I recently got a new pair of riding boots for my birthday. My old ones are black - well, used to black. They are so worn out that the toes are almost completely white. So anyway, my mom and I went boot shopping.

Cowboy boots are not always comfortable at first. You have to break them in, so to speak. After you trod around the mud in them, ride in them, and trek back and forth from the stable in them, they begin to conform to your foot. This brought a familiar verse to my mind.

Romans 12:2 ~ Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test andapprove what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

As Christians, we should not let our "boot" conform to the "foot" of the world.

The first boots I got for my birthday were really cute, but they had a decorative strip of leather over the ankle area, called a "saddle." I have very broad feet, and my foot could not even fit into those boots, even though they were technically my size. That's how we should be with the world. We Christians shouldn't even let them slip their feet into our boots.

Something of Great Importance

It seems like if someone is having a problem, the friendly advice they get from Christian friends is always, “Read your Bible.” Why in the world is reading your Bible so important?

I’ll give an example.

There was a girl who owned a pretty troublesome horse. However, she did not know how to train him, much less ride him or any other horse. She got hold of a five-star trainer and asked for help in learning how to ride. The trainer said, “Well…I will be out of town for a few weeks. But I’ve written a book on this subject, and I think you’d find it really helpful. I’ll send it to you right away.”
The girl agreed. She received the book in the mail and skimmed a few random pages somewhere in the middle before setting it down with a yawn. “This won’t help me,” she said. “I’ll be better off on my own until that trainer gets back.”
She went out to try and work with her horse, but he was so disobedient that she ended up face-down in the dust. The girl got up and pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket. She was mad, and that trainer was going to be sorry he hadn’t helped her right away. When he finally answered, she launched into complaints. “Where are you when I need you?” She demanded, after she had gone on and on about her horse and her poor self. “What?” The trainer asked, sounding a little hurt. “Didn’t you look through the book?”

That isn’t a perfect illustration, but it gives the gist of the problem. We have received a book from the Lord, and if we don’t read it, how is He going to communicate with us? Why should we think God is going to personally appear to us when we need advice if we’re not even paying attention the advice He already sent? I read in a study book that 90% of God’s communication with us comes through the Bible, while only 10% comes from other things.

“But the Bible is so boring!” Really. Have you given it a chance? If you want romance, read Song of Songs. If you’re a history buff, start in Genesis and read on through the whole thing. If you like poetry and rhythmic verse, read Psalms and Proverbs. There are miracles in the four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And if you’re in the mood for some hair-raising and gruesome deaths, read Judges.

I heard a lady on the radio give an example about Bible reading once. She said that when you first start reading, it’s like runny porridge. You abhor it! It’s lumpy, it’s displeasing, and very bland. But if you keep on reading a little bit each day, it becomes oatmeal with milk and sugar. Maybe not your choice breakfast, but it’s definitely better than runny porridge. If you keep on eatin’ your oatmeal every day, it will turn into a dish of peaches and cream – something that you constantly run to and delight in.

I think I’m in between the oatmeal and peaches stage. In our house, we try to read for 1/2 an hour each day. I usually do my reading right when I get up in the morning. I don’t always look forward to it, but if I don’t do it, I find myself constantly thinking about it throughout the day. And 1/2 an hour may sound like a long time at first, but it really is not. I don’t read from one place for the whole time, though…my attention span is too short. Instead, I read a bit from the Old Testament, a bit from the New, one chapter of Proverbs, and I also work on memorizing passages.

On the Proverb thing – if you’d like a way to start reading the Bible more, try reading a chapter of Proverbs each day. There are 31 chapters in the book, so you can read the whole thing every month.

I will leave you with a verse…Psalm 37:4 ~ “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

How do you delight in Him like that?

Read your Bible, of course!

June 7, 2010

Thoughts from the Saddle

While racing around the arena at a breakneck trot today, I decided that riding is a little bit like life.
First of all, in riding there’s a delicate balance between relaxing and staying on. You have to learn how to tighten and calm your muscles at the same time for the most pleasing effect. If you have a good seat and nice posture, you’ll be able to stay on if your horse takes a sudden turn or does something crazy.
It’s the same way with life, isn’t it? We don’t want to be uptight, but we also want to get stuff done and go with the flow.
Some riding days can be just really…amazing! But hey, let’s face it: it’s not like the movies. Neither is life. But life is better because its yours.
There’s one way I can think of that life and riding are (figuratively) different. In riding, you’ve got to be the one in control. If you’re not, you’re going to get thrown around like a rag doll. However, we tend to want to be in control in life, as well, and the rules are different there. We have to remember that God is the one who holds the reins.
“If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a terrible warning.” – Anon
February 6, 2010