HEY JESUS, WANT TO GO FOR A RIDE?

In Experiencing God, Blackaby said “Look where God is working and join Him”. The past few weeks the Lord has brought back to my attention something He told me when I first moved out here. One of my first days in our new home I was standing in my living room looking out over this beautiful property that the Lord had graciously given us and I clearly heard Him say “this neighborhood is your mission field”. It is not that I have dismissed His words completely, but this mission was set on the back burner because my life was way too busy to add THIS to the mix. Today, I sit almost 2 years later, with very few personal commitments and God is saying “okay, you are not busy anymore, so get to work!”.

My neighbor Sharon, who has lived out here for 20+ years, was one of the first neighbors I met. The first time I met her I knew she was a Christian because Jesus radiates out of her. She is a lovely woman and she was so helpful to me when I got back into the “horse scene”. About 8 months after we moved in Sharon and I were horseback riding and she was telling me the history of the neighborhood. As Sharon shared what she knew, she became very emotional and she said to me “There is so much hurt here, I want to help this neighborhood reconnect and be close the way it use to be”. That was about a year and a half ago.

Today, I called Sharon and we talked for over an hour. I told her that I am not too busy now to reach out to this neighborhood and I asked her to join me in reconnecting our neighbors. She is so excited! I am so excited! We are meeting tomorrow over a horseback ride to talk about the opportunities we have to reach these people. We agree that we need to just “do” and not “plan” a whole lot. So, it looks like we will start by getting a few neighbors together on Saturday (hopefully it is not too late of notice!) to trailer the horses out to the Skyline Wilderness Area in Napa and do a morning trail ride. During our ride on Wednesday we will plan a trail ride/potluck! This will include a neighborhood wide trail ride either at Pena Adobe or Skyline and then return for an afternoon/evening potluck for ALL the neighbors (those who ride and do not ride). In my conversation with Sharon she even said there are a few Christians in the neighborhood that want to start a Bible study, but just haven’t. So, we will talk about that possibility as well.

My post today is to share that just because I am not in “church” right now, doesn’t mean I am not looking to join God in His work. He has been screaming at me for 2 years now! I was spread too thin! I have neighbors who are Christians, but not in church right now and they are craving fellowship and desire to open the Word together. I would not have known that even 2 months ago! I have neighbors who are going to hell and need to SEE Jesus in me. How can they see Jesus in me if I am never home? The Lord is moving and he is calling me to join Him. I am surrounded by people here who love horses and love to ride, so I will start there. Jesus, are you telling me I can have “church” from the back of a horse? HOW COOL IS THAT? More importantly than "having church" from the saddle, I can BE the church from the saddle! Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them”. Jesus, Sharon and I are going horseback riding! Pray for us as we invite others to join our riding group and pray for opportunities to introduce Jesus to the lost and to place all the hurt and pain in this community at the foot of the cross and ask the Lord for healing. Lord, let’s saddle up and ride!