Friday, February
7, 2020
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18[2]
No, that guy isn’t John Wayne, or
Roy Rogers, or some superhero; that’s Russell a few years ago on vacation in
Brevard, riding a horse for the first and only time in my life. It’s easy to tell the difference between the
superheroes and Russell; I’m the one shaking in the saddle.
And it’s all because of Big
John, my ride for that afternoon.
They had a sign that said if you’re over 210 pounds (I was, and I’m not
going to tell you how far over), you couldn’t ride unless Big John was
available. Normal humans who can’t leap
28-feet in the air need a stepladder to mount the stable behemoth. I’m smiling in the picture, but it’s a frozen
in time, is this how I’m gonna die kind of smile.
Well, the afternoon turned out to
be a favorite memory of mine. Big John
was well named for his size, but better named for his disposition. This was a beast who was gentle and
calm. There was no doubt who was in
charge; when Big John wanted to stop along the mountain trail to munch on some
low hanging branches, well…by golly…no matter how much Russell urged us on, we stopped
and munched on low hanging branches. Big
John that is; Russell had Reece’s PB cups.
Sometimes it worked the other way
around. There were a few times I wanted
to stop and take a picture of the lovely mountain scenery. Brevard has some breathtaking views of
rolling, majestic sights, including lots of waterfalls. But John had seen them so often he would just
keep plodding. Once I did what our guide
had suggested when instructing this greenhorn…if John didn’t stop, to just
tighten up my knee pressure on his neck and yank a bit on the reins. And when I did it, John ignored me like a
rhino with a gnat on his back. We kept plodding...no
pictures!
In the end I decided John was
smarter than the one riding him. Big
John had done that trail hundreds of times in his 25 years; he knew the right
way to enjoy an afternoon. I learned a
little something that day about truly vacationing
as opposed to cramming leisure time with too much distraction; life in the 21st
century has enough of that.
One of the takeaways from that few
hours with Big John is an understanding of keeping a focus on how to use what
power you’re granted. John could’ve flattened
me if he chose. He could have insisted
on riding me, or just depositing me in a ditch.
However, he chose to use his power wisely, treating me to a wonderful afternoon
ride, aesthetically pleasing and memorable.
It was a gift!
It’s almost painful to make this
leap, but such are the risks of contrast and comparison – I wish some of our
political leaders would learn Big John’s lesson. Access to power doesn’t mean grabbing what
you want at any cost. Rather, like my
four-footed beautiful friend taught me, it means offering the best you have to
the people you serve.
For
You Today
And then thank
your heavenly Father for the view.
Go to VIDEO
[1]
Title Image: Russell Brownworth
(original photo) Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The
New Living Translation©
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