07/21/08

Hey everybody,

Cory and I got a new filly in to train this weekend. I went and picked her up on Friday afternoon. We were late getting home so I just put her in the round pen, or corral for those of you who don’t know what a round pen is, where she could stay for the night. So Saturday morning I went out to put her in her permanent home which is a paddock down below the barn. The round pen sits in the sun, but her new paddock is in the shade; all she had in the round pen was a flake of hay and a bucket of water, but in the paddock there is a nice big round bale of hay and a water trough full of water. So in my mind I am thinking this will be easy, until I walked into the round pen to get her.

I walked into the round pen with her halter in my hand and started toward her, and she turned her rear end to me, a sure enough no no on the Dague Lyle Ranch! So I asked her to face me by taping on her rear end with a training stick. When I did she took off running. Now for those of you who don’t know much about horses I need to tell you a few things about catching a horse. The idea is that I would make her so uncomfortable without me, that she wants to be with me and the way I do that is to make her run! The way I make her run is: I look where I want her to go, point to where I want her to go, and swing the rope toward her back end and drive her around the round pen. Well after a few minutes of running she tilted her head in every so slightly and looked at me while turning an ear toward me. As soon as I realized she was paying attention to me I lowered my head, dropped my hands to my side, stopped swinging the rope and took a couple of steps backward. Her response to this was to stop and face me. However, when I took a few steps toward her she turned away and I made her run again and we started the whole process over. But every time I would get a little bit closer, and a little bit closer until in just a few minutes I was petting her on the head. Within thirty minutes I had the halter on her and she was headed to her “ Promise Land ”.

As I stood there and watched her run and run and run and breath harder and harder, and sweat and sweat I thought to myself, “If you will just stop and let me put this halter on you I am going to take you to a better place and all of this work can end. And in that very second God said, “Jason you are just like that horse!”

2 Samuel 14:14 says. . .

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Just like I had a better place for that horse to be, God has a better life for you and I to live but we resist that change. So God devises ways to bring us around to His way of thinking. Check this out. . .  

1.      God knows what’s best, but I know what’s familiar. You see that mare did not know what I had in store for her so in order for her to let me catch her she had to trust me first. How much of my time do I spend running from God when He is just trying to take me to a round bale and a trough full of water? But see that horse knew the round pen, she felt safe in it, she felt familiar with it, and she did not want to leave no matter what. Let me ask you all something, where in your life is God trying to take you somewhere and you are running for all you are worth? Where is that spot? Maybe He is calling you to another country to go on mission, maybe He is calling you to preach, maybe He is calling you to go to seminary and learn more about theology, maybe He is calling you to work with underprivileged kids, the list goes on and on. Or how about this, maybe He is calling you to forgive someone you don’t want to forgive. Or maybe He is asking you to repair a broken relationship or ask someone’s forgiveness. Whatever that thing is that God is calling you to do trust me, and trust His word where He wants you to go is much better that where you are.

2.      God puts pressure in my life until I turn and pay attention to Him. The thing about this mare is this; once I started I could not give in. If I did then she would be even more difficult to catch the next time. Wherever this source of pressure is in your life, it will not stop until God gets your attention. Oh sometimes you may give Him an eye or an ear and He will let it off for a minute, but as soon as He starts toward you of you go again running. But trust me He will not let you stay where you are even if it takes YEARS! He will pursue you, He loves you and wants what is best for your life even if you don’t think it is the best He knows it is.

3.      When I give in, God will lead me to what is best for me. This is the most important part so don’t miss this. Once I allow God to catch me, He leads me I don’t lead myself. In other words when I say God okay I am going to forgive, I am going to heal, I am going to stop drinking, I am going to stop looking at pornography. . . or God I will go on mission, I will go to seminary, I will start working with kids. . . at that point you don’t have to make your own way, God will lead you where you need to go. Our tendency is that once we give into God we then want to dictate to Him the direction we are going to go and that is not even close to right. Once we give into Him, we trust Him to lead us, or really we are just starting to run again.

Starting colts or, as the old cowboys call it, breaking horses is very rewarding work. I love it. Outside of pastoring, preaching and discipling people it is my most favorite thing to do. The reason is I get to see progress. I get to see a horse that once would not even let me catch it let me catch it, put a saddle on it, and ride it in thirty days. Come to think of it pastoring, preaching and discipling people is a work of progress too. I have seen so many of you guys make leaps and bounds toward the LORD. But so many of you I see get stuck. Let Him have every part of your life, I promise you will not be disappointed.

I love you all. Have a great week.

Pastor Jason Lyle 
The Open Range Church of Henry County 
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.