The Right Combo
I'm always amazed when I see a team come into the barrel
racing world and dominate the competition. It's one of the mysteries of life
to me when a certain horse gets into the hands of a certain rider and they
become the perfect combination. They complete each other and excel together.
The horse had to be a great prospect, but what brought him
to completion in excellence in performing was the mixture of training,
shoeing, feeding, vet care, correct tack, etc. When all of these are applied
correctly to a great prospect, the results are awesome.
However, you can correctly apply all of the above to a
horse that is not a great prospect and all you will have at the end is an
empty pocket book. The old timers used to say, "you can not mix chicken poop
with mayonnaise and produce chicken salad." Wrong combination.
I am also continually amazed to see how many people try to
come up with a winner by starting out with a horse that is never going to be
great even when all the proper training and care is applied. Some horses are
not bred or built to ever be a great barrel horse. Some have conformation
faults that will not allow them to stay sound year after year in the arena of
competition. Wrong combination.
I've also seen great horses that went to waste because they
lacked the right rider and great riders who never had the horse to complete
their abilities as a trainer. Wrong combinations. The combination has to be
right to excel in our sport. Everything has to click for that team to
dominate the competition. They have to be a team that complete and compliment
each other. Many horses and riders never reach completion in the sport of
barrel racing.
I am so glad that people are not like horses in that we ALL
have a chance to reach excellence and completion in this life. When we ask
Jesus Christ into our lives, He gives us the Holy Spirit to indewll us. At
that very time, we are complete. The perfect combination - the right
combination for a successful life forever. Ephesians 1 :13-14 says: Because
of what Christ did all who heard the Good News about how to be saved, and
trusted Christ, were marked as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit, who
long ago had been promised to all of us Christians. His presence within us is
God's guarantee that he really will give us all that he promised; and the
Spirit's seal upon us means that God has already purchased us and that he
guarantees to bring us to himself.
We have become new at the moment of our acceptance of
Christ. We are born again. (This is our second birth.) 2 Corinthians says:
If any man be in Christ, then he has become a new creation. Old things are
passed away, behold, all things are become new. (note that the words are
become is a continual process - not instant) We just got put in training
with the greatest trainer of all trainers. The combination of us and Jesus
Christ is the combination of perfection and completion.
Your first birth matters not - it is the second birth that
counts for eternity.
It is not your looks or build that matters - it is the
inner man that is in training.
It is not your abilities that matter - it is your
availability and attitude to be trained that will count.
It is not your goodness that matters - it is Christ's
Righteousness that covers you and your faults.
It is not about how talented you are - but who you belong
to.
We are not like the horse that has to have so many
variables work out to excel. We all have the opportunity to become what
Christ designed us to be. All we lacked was the perfect trainer and when we
receive Him - we become instantly complete and ready for the trainer's
manual. The only perfect combination is a human being and Jesus Christ. That
is only the beginning. Then the training begins and continues until the day
when we see Him face to face. The perfect combination and available to
anyone and everyone.