Writings By Phil

February 18, 2018

Hebrews 12: 1-2 Therefore . . . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. . . .

I took my Valentine of 35 years to the rodeo at Silver Spurs Arena last night for a late February 14 date. It was a surprise. Jackie is not into cowboy boots, hats and county music, but she likes horses and has been hinting, for a very long time, that she would like to go to a rodeo.

A rodeo is not a typical race, but competition is fierce between the cowboys and cowgirls. Most events are a race against the clock. The participant with the shortest time of roping or bulldogging and, for the women, barrel racing, is declared the winner. In other events, like bronc or bull riding, the goal is to stay seated on the bucking beast for the eternity of eight seconds. No matter, all events are tied to the stopwatch!

The cowboys, last evening, were competing to win a $100,000 prize. Watching the helter-skelter propulsion of arms and legs, the fringe of cowboy chaps scattering and falling to the heavy rhythm of bucking horse and bull, and sometimes, the violent slamming of men to the ground, I decided that a million dollars was not enough money to willingly endure so much abuse. As a child, I wanted to be a cowboy and break horses, but after watching these guys, I decided I’m way too old to try! Something would be broken, all right, but it would not be the horse!

The professional rodeo cowboys competing last night were not spur-of-the-moment city slickers who showed up and traded their expensive business suits for Wrangler jeans and snap-up western shirts. They were not novices who, on a whim, decided they wanted a chance to win the prize money. No, these guys started young, many of them in junior rodeo. Some grew up on ranches where breaking horses was part of the work week. It took practice and discipline and bruises and, sometimes, broken bones for them to become world champions. “Cowboy up!” That was their life motto from a young age. They got thrown off a horse, they got hurt and bruised, they broke bones, but they always got back up and rode again.

When the rodeo ended, I walked Jackie back to our car, but it was a long wait before we got out of the parking lot. Once on the road, I was glad when, at last, we broke free from heavy traffic and could drive at cruising speed. The ride home was without incident. Jackie told me over and over that she enjoyed the surprise and the show.

Maybe she enjoyed it too much. Now she wants me to buy her a horse!

In the Christian race we often get slammed around. We get thrown. Our plans don’t go as we anticipated. Our friends hurt us and forsake us. Sickness and circumstance give us whiplash. Sin, that ever present beast in all of our lives, tries to throw us and grind us into the dirt.

How often when we are down, we lay there in despair. We think there is no hope. We ask ourselves what is the point of trying again? That is time to “Cowboy up!”

We need to get our eyes back on Jesus, no matter how dreary our circumstances may seem and “Christian up!” God is there in the valley, on the mountaintop, in the shadow of death, and in the depths of our despair. And, He has our best in mind!

If we have yielded to temptation and have fallen, that is the time to “Christian up!” Don’t listen to the accuser, be it our own deceitful heart or Satan himself, but instead, confess our sins, get our eyes back on Jesus and get back in the race!

Fellow Pilgrim, it is time to get back on the horse!