BBD 10.09.09 Take a Wild Ride

#1 · October 9, 2009, 9:11 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on October 9, 2009, 9:11 pm
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
www.theburningbush.net.

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

(A Devotional Classic from 2002)

Welcome to the 1111 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

10.09.09

Take a Wild Ride

Today's devotional was written by my son (in 2002), Clark Wrather, who is
the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The
Scripture and title have been added.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. - Colossians 1:9-11.

Someone recently gave me a motorcycle! Can you believe it? It's not just any
old cycle, but a Yamaha, Maxim X, with a 5 valve 700 cc monster. If you don't
know what that means, don't worry about it. I'm not sure if I do yet,
either.

When I first tried to get it started, I couldn't remember how to do anything
with a motorcycle. Thankfully, someone was driving by and stopped to show me
the finer points of the iron horse.

Eventually, when no one was around, I actually got it started and tried to
take off. It surged forward a couple of times and then died. I started it
again and it surged forward three times and then died. The third time, I
gave it lots of gas, let off the clutch, and it surged forward and took off!
Of course, I was unprepared for success, and it scared me to death! I was
heading at warp speed towards the fence across the street from my driveway.

I swerved in the nick of time and missed the fence. I nearly fell over and
kept wobbling down the street for quite a distance. All of this was
happening in a matter of seconds, and I could not figure out why I wasn't
slowing down. The light bulb finally came on, and I realized that if I
wanted to slow down, I would have to let off the throttle.

After I got it stopped, I was too afraid of the thing to ride it back to my
house, so I pushed it all the way back and into my drive way. While trying
to set the bike up on the kickstand, the thing fell over on me and scraped
my leg up. Of course, I told Libby as little as possible about any of this!

Now, it's almost two weeks later after that initial experience. I'm not
ready to be in Easy Rider II or even take a road adventure to far away
Idabel (10 miles), but I can ride that motorcycle. It's really a blast. You
feel the wind in your hair, the sun on your face, and you hear and feel the
rumble of the engine. You can go fast or slow, but it takes lots of balance
and coordination to shift all the gears and work the brakes when you slow
down or stop. I imagine that in two months I'll enjoy it even more (because
it won't die on me every other time I stop) and feel like I could go
anywhere on it.

God's will is a lot like my motorcycle. If you just hop on and give it the
gas, you might be scared where it takes you. New Christians or believers who
first become active often feel like they have jumped off the deep end, and
that they're on a "wild ride." This is why some get off and "park" and never
quite get back on. After a while, you realize that there's nothing else like
the "wild ride" of being in God's will. He'll take you places you never
thought you'd go, and you'll think it's a blast!

It takes experience, time, and practice to be spiritually coordinated and
enjoy the ride. You get these from reading the Bible coming to church,
praying and applying what you learn from those things by serving God. If
more Christians would do these things, their "spiritual ride" would not die
every other time they try to start it!

Copyright © 2002 - 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for Cody, and Mica who are young
boys with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website
on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and
they will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am
always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

Visit the Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites have received visits from more than 170 countries.
Celebrating 11 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more
than 11,000 subscribers across the world.

Please join the Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998 and is
made up of over 300 prayer warriors. Send prayer requests and receive prayer
requests. To join send an email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You can now leave comments/feedback about the devotionals at
http://www.theburningbush.net.

I'm now on twitter and you can find me at http://www.twitter.com/edwrather.

The Burning Bush Devotional

(A Devotional Classic from 2002)

Welcome to the 1111 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

10.09.09

Take a Wild Ride

Today's devotional was written by my son (in 2002), Clark Wrather, who is
the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The
Scripture and title have been added.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for
you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all
wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the
knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy. - Colossians 1:9-11.

Someone recently gave me a motorcycle! Can you believe it? It's not just any
old cycle, but a Yamaha, Maxim X, with a 5 valve 700 cc monster. If you don't
know what that means, don't worry about it. I'm not sure if I do yet,
either.

When I first tried to get it started, I couldn't remember how to do anything
with a motorcycle. Thankfully, someone was driving by and stopped to show me
the finer points of the iron horse.

Eventually, when no one was around, I actually got it started and tried to
take off. It surged forward a couple of times and then died. I started it
again and it surged forward three times and then died. The third time, I
gave it lots of gas, let off the clutch, and it surged forward and took off!
Of course, I was unprepared for success, and it scared me to death! I was
heading at warp speed towards the fence across the street from my driveway.

I swerved in the nick of time and missed the fence. I nearly fell over and
kept wobbling down the street for quite a distance. All of this was
happening in a matter of seconds, and I could not figure out why I wasn't
slowing down. The light bulb finally came on, and I realized that if I
wanted to slow down, I would have to let off the throttle.

After I got it stopped, I was too afraid of the thing to ride it back to my
house, so I pushed it all the way back and into my drive way. While trying
to set the bike up on the kickstand, the thing fell over on me and scraped
my leg up. Of course, I told Libby as little as possible about any of this!

Now, it's almost two weeks later after that initial experience. I'm not
ready to be in Easy Rider II or even take a road adventure to far away
Idabel (10 miles), but I can ride that motorcycle. It's really a blast. You
feel the wind in your hair, the sun on your face, and you hear and feel the
rumble of the engine. You can go fast or slow, but it takes lots of balance
and coordination to shift all the gears and work the brakes when you slow
down or stop. I imagine that in two months I'll enjoy it even more (because
it won't die on me every other time I stop) and feel like I could go
anywhere on it.

God's will is a lot like my motorcycle. If you just hop on and give it the
gas, you might be scared where it takes you. New Christians or believers who
first become active often feel like they have jumped off the deep end, and
that they're on a "wild ride." This is why some get off and "park" and never
quite get back on. After a while, you realize that there's nothing else like
the "wild ride" of being in God's will. He'll take you places you never
thought you'd go, and you'll think it's a blast!

It takes experience, time, and practice to be spiritually coordinated and
enjoy the ride. You get these from reading the Bible coming to church,
praying and applying what you learn from those things by serving God. If
more Christians would do these things, their "spiritual ride" would not die
every other time they try to start it!

Copyright © 2002 - 2009. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for Cody, and Mica who are young
boys with cancer. Many prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website
on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer requests there and
they will be forwarded to the Burning Bush Prayer Group (Of course, I am
always in need of prayer - please pray for me.).

If you are not my friend on facebook or myspace you can be, just add me. The
devotionals are posted in my blogs on those two social networks and you can
leave comments, feedback about them there. There are other social networks
designed just for Christians, however, this is an outreach project to reach
those who may not know the Lord or may have wandered away. You can help me
reach out to them.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
subscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Two videos of my sermons are posted on GodTube at:
http://www.godtube.com/Wrather

You can listen to services at my son, Clark Wrather's church (First Baptist
Church of Broken Bow, Oklahoma) live on Sunday mornings at 10:55am CST
http://www.kkbifm.com/

There is a complete devotional archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here
is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You can unsubscribe to the pure text version of the devotional by sending a
blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org and then respond to
the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.