I'm not a theologian but....

(Continued from last night) After a few minutes of nervous silence from the kid I thought I would let him in on the fact that I was joking. There was a visible relief in the boys character. The thought that I would let him get ate was extremely uncomfortable for him, but afterwards the ridiculousness of the notion illustrated how absurd it would be. This helped galvanize the point I was trying to make. I took a few minutes to explain that he should not be afraid of anything when I am with him. As long as I am there nothing will get to him, unless it eats me first. And no matter how scary things get he needs to trust me. I think he understood.

When I was riding bareback horses, I prayed every time before I rode. I would tell God that I was there to glorify him and that he had free rein over me and my rodeo career BUT I asked for him to keep me safe. I know that sounds like a normal prayer and there is nothing technically wrong with it. But I said this same prayer every time I got on. As time went by I thought more and more about the prayer. I was basically giving God free rein over everything except my safety. I gave him permission to allow me to ride good or fall off, win money or lose me fees, But in my prayer I didn’t give him any leeway when it came to keeping me safe, at first it wasn’t that big of a deal. But after I noticed and thought about this, I realized I was consciously not trusting him with the choice of whether or not I stayed safe. I was not trusting him 100%.

It was a tough change when I changed my prayer from “Lord let your will be done through me and keep me safe” to “Lord let your will be done through me whatever the cost”. It’s a hard prayer to pray when you really think about it. Telling God he can do whatever he wants with you as long as he keeps you safe is a lot different than Telling God he can do whatever he wants to you in order that he may be Glorified.

"The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing. When you don’t fear God, you fear everything else." - Oswald Chambers.

This quote is so true. I can honestly say that 90% of the fear in my life went away when I decided to trust God with everything. Just like I was explaining to my boy, even if things look scary as long as I am with him I will do what’s best for him. I think God was saying thesame to me. It may not always be comfortable and I may not always understand but as long as I trust him he will be there to take care of me.

There are people who will tell you that its Gods will for everyone to be rich, healthy, and comfortable. I personally tend to think God is more interested in growing your character and shaping you into a tool, than he is in your comfort. God has promised that we as Christians will be with him in heaven, but if you think that God owes you wealth or prosperity here on earth you are reading a different bible than me. God loves us and wants to bless us but he wants what he knows is best for us not necessarily what we think is best for us. Comfort is not always the best thing for us. Sorry if this offends you but I think “Your Best Life” should come after you die, not “Now”.

Bottom line trust God always in every situation whether it make since or not, he won’t let you down. If someone says your not rich because you don’t have enough faith, Ask them about how much physical health and wealth Paul, Peter, Stephen, and basically every follower of Christ in the Bible, had. Pray for God to mold you into a tool however he chooses to do so then trust him when he does.