Lost Puppies

So, yesterday I'd broken my fasting, mostly because I was feeling week and tired. Through our reading, mom and I discovered that due to current diet trends, fasting was near impossible until you go near two weeks eating nothing but fruits and vegetables. I've also noticed my will power was starting to drain faster whenever the smells of food were around. Crazy how the body works huh? Well, we're going to try and change our diets soon and then maybe after a time I'll try again.

Outside of the food I've felt a bit of a failure, during the days I was able to fast, I wasn't focused where I was wanting to be. Putting off what I needed to do with what I wanted to do; but those things always led to boredom. I guess I need to do fasting of a different nature for a while before I can start getting where I'm going.

Before it got dark here in Houston, I went out for a jog/walk with my family's dog Damashki (Robert named him =P) and we came across a small pup wondering the intersecting street. I tried to get it, but anytime it got too close it started picking a fight with my dog and so I figured I would take Damashki back home and go after the pup. I took some treats with me and a lease and set out to where I'd last seen it and lo and behold it was still there marking territory every five feet. On approach, it treated me the same as when I had the other dog with me, and giving it treats did help but not enough for me to get to his collar. I chased it down three miles of streets and back streets, then another half mile after it crossed a major intersection and during all this time it started to drizzle, then got heavier every other minute. On my last approach I walked before him and stood in his path, he went across the street and tried to get around me to get back on it's patterned path before darting to the other end of the street and across a four lane road by a busy intersection.

As much as I was worried about the puppy and the owners that had lost it, I was too tired to go chasing after him. As the rain came pouring down, I gave up and started my way home. The center of the storm was only two and a half miles out, but it rained the rest of the night after I came in soaking wet. Now that I look back at it, I wonder if this is how we are before we come to Christ. He goes out looking for us with great intention, and we want to run away because we're having too much fun until we run so far that we think we lose Him completely and are free for it, only to eventually find out that we're on our own, in the cold, damp night with no one to watch over us.

I have heard of people saying that the spirit had left them and they can't feel God's presence any longer, and I wonder how true that could be. I guess I hold too much to the prodigal son view where all we have to do is turn around and run to him and after admitting the sins we had and giving our lives over to Him we'll be saved. I prayed for that pup last night as I walked onto my street, it was darkening faster with every ten minutes and just a few moments ago I got a call from a friend saying how she had found a dog on the streets on her way to the bank. Sadly, it wasn't the one I'd chased, but it makes me think again. The lost dogs will eventually be found, we can only hope the lost can be found by the right people.

I'm glad I'm found, and that those that I care most about are also found, but there are still lost people that I need to pray for. May the Father help me in my ministry and show me the way he wants me to win people over to him.

On unrelated news, I have a new article job for Ten3 missions. I'm excited, mostly because it's interview three people this time instead of just one. It will be due on the 13th and will be out in the next newsletter I believe. Pray that I will get the assignment finished with what needs to be said. This is only my second assignment and I'm already flying solo; I don't know whether to be excited or scared out of my wits. Thankfully, I got a lot of wit.