Go Live

I work at Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kansas as a buyer. This is not a glamorous job, lots of computer time, meetings and looking at numbers. I enjoy it. It's rather solitary, and in my crazy world, I get little solitude anywhere else.
We are implementing a new software program. This activity has required countless hours of training. Training so that we will be ready on the first day we come in and sit down to use this new system. They have offered training and refresher training and training updates for the last year, all in preparation of implementation, so we will be as ready as we can possibly be. I think this is like my spiritual walk. God has me in training. Everyday I have occasion to learn, to improve, to make the right decision and do the right thing. Everyday I have the opportunity to build character and prepare myself for the day when someone will "flip the switch". I've heard it said that the trials in our lives are to prepare us for what is coming in the future. Somehow, I always had this in mind that bigger and worse and more horrific trials are coming. We've all lived through some doozies, so thinking that the next one will be worse has me rolled in fetal position in the corner sucking my thumb. The life of Joseph illustrates perfectly how the trials he faced prepared him for the day someone "flipped his switch". They call this day "go live" here at work, and I see a parallel in Joseph's life. He endured being thrown into a pit, sold by his brothers, lied about, thrown into a prison (back in a pit) and was left there for a long time. In my old way of thinking, Joseph was being trained for something even worse than prison. But I realize that Joseph was being trained for something hard, but IT WAS SOMETHING GREAT! When he was removed from prison, he was able to save a great many lives. The day he was removed from prison may very well have been his "go live" day, the day God was training him for. Genesis 50:20 "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.' (ESV) In my life, as I look at the past trials, sometimes I have just functioned. Sometimes I have seen victory. Now, I believe that they were opportunities to train me and prepare me for what is to come. Will there be trials? Yes. Will it be hard? Sometimes. But I believe God means it for good. Sometime, somewhere, someway, I will be able to use what has happened in my life for good. I have seen this day come in other people's lives where they hit their stride with doing great things for God. You can just see that they have had their "go live" moment, and they are making the most of it. I want to be ready for mine.