Fun Trial time

Well, the Fun Trial is here, Brewer and I never got much of the work in I had hoped we would. I am pretty nervous about tomorrow. I know it is not a formal setting, I just hope Brewer doesnt make me look totally ridiculous. This morning he chased a car down our street. He has never done that before. I am pretty sure I woke the entire neighborhood up at 5:45 yelling his name a half dozen times. Richard Wolters in his book Game Dog states that by this time you should not have to yell at your dog to get him to obey you. As a matter of fact he says that yelling is probably never the answer because the dog believes he can get away with his current bad behavior until you yell. As soon as you believe the dog has learned to respond to you, never give a command more then 2 times. If the dog sees or hears you give the command and still chooses not to listen, nip that problem in the bud, dont let it get to yelling. I think this is one place I have not followed through well in Brewers training. There are some things he does well when we tell him, other things like responding to the COME command no matter what, he needs work on. I am pretty sure that he will not chase any more cars, unless he went into shock from getting spanked and has blocked out the whole experience. He knew he behaved badly and tried to hide from me in the flower bed. I picked him up by the skin on the back of his neck and the skin on his back and carried him inside popping him 3 times on the rear when we got there. He stayed away from me for a minute or 2 and then he came and said he was sorry.
Sunday I officially enter into my upper 20's. My dad always said I should be careful what I choose to do because time flies and I will be 30 before I know it. Well, 28 isnt 30, but it really emphasizes what I already think about daily. What the heck am I going to do with my life, cause this aint it. There are a few plans in the works, but I am constantly anxious about making those plans a reality, and life constantly seem to change my plans. I feel like the principal states, Lack of purpose equals lack of direction which eventually leads to spiritual death. Or better said by Aaron Tippin "You ve got to stand for something or you ll fall for anything".
I know I have purpose and I know I have God's grace to rely on.I just cannot seem to climb out of this rut. How do we as followers of Jesus learn to activate our faith? I believe we must trust in God fully. To trust in God fully, at some point we have to take a chance and give something to God in our lives that we dont want to. It is called a leap of faith. It shouldnt be so hard but it is. In our culture if we cannot see it, hear it, or touch it, "it" is considered a strike against progress and deemed unnecessary or irrelevant. We have eliminated the need for God in our lives, or so it would seem. We have everything we need and we have it RIGHT NOW. Even those of us who profess our faith to God. We expect blessings and answers and miracles and direction RIGHT NOW. One of the things that encourages me every time I think about it is this, throughout the Bible, there are Heroes and Villains. God takes the most unlikely people and turns them into relentless passionate purpose filled advocates for him and his glory, and he does this time and time again. The thing we often miss about all of these people is the process God took them through. We read a few pages of their story and get fired up asking God to give us courage and faith like Nehemiah or David or Moses or Noah. We lose sight of the fact that their faith was forged over years of struggling to get it right, trials and tribulations and screw ups. David was anointed king of Israel when he was very young, it was not until about 15 years later that he actually became king. Could you imagine that, knowing you had been anointed King over all of Israel by God,and then having to wait and wait and wait to sit on the throne. Are you sure this is what you said God, cause right now, I dont see how you are gonna make this happen. Sound familiar? All of these men fought their fights, won and lost physical and spiritual battles, all the while God was with them, patiently waiting on what he knew was to come. Lets not forget our walk with God is a process, there are steps to be taken and lessons to be learned. All of us will stumble and fall. Proverbs 24:16 "The Righteous man falls seven times, and he riseth again" The ins and outs of how our culture operates is not a reflection of how God operates. Even in my lowest darkest moments I have felt God's pursuit, heard his whisper in my ear. What a great God I serve that he would pursue me still, with full knowledge of my actions and cold heart. Our walk with God is a process, faith is cultivated by faith and revelation. The more you trust in God the more he reveals himself to you, the more you know about God the more you trust in him, the more you trust in him the further he takes you. Its not about who is good or bad, or what you have done or anything like that. its about trusting. Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." The Bible states that as long as the earth is in motion there will be SEED TIME & HARVEST. So right now you are either sowing, waiting, or reaping.....