Identifying the Good Stuff of Life
The first night
Early October of this year featured a five-day trip to Rock Creek, about 25 miles north of Bishop on 395. This celebrated a Riter centennial: Dad first traveled up here on a washboard dirt road in 1925, and he got me hooked on Sierra fishing, camping, and Fords. On the second day, my sis now living in Kentucky called, and the topic of trout came up. She declared she didn’t care for them, too many bones. Being trained in debate, and knowing the tastiness of trout, I used an old line, “Life is like eating fish: pick out and discard the bones, and enjoy the meat.”
She didn’t buy that, but the principle turned out to bite me in the butt quite soon. In our evening phone call, my wife asked how my first night went sleeping in my F150. I admitted it was rough, a bit cold despite the shell, the temp was just 37 when I crawled out in the AM. Dressing while lying horizontal brought some challenges with my left knee still a little tender from a total knee replacement six months earlier. And hanging around a campfire for several hours went slow.
The next day soothed my soul. God’s sun warmed his world, and I landed 10 trout in just 2 hours on the creek, and my knee handled hiking the rocks and fallen trees along the stream quite well. Then I remembered the metaphor that Jane rejected. Camping gives many chunks of fine meat: living unsheltered in God’s country, meeting the challenge of the trout, and time to relax and ponder. I’m not ready to give that up. But bones come along: the chill of October nights, the awkwardness of sleeping in the truck’s bed. Maybe I need to pick out some bones. Maybe rent a cabin at Tom’s place, or a motel room in Bishop. Who knows?
As New Year nears, maybe we should discard some bones in our lives to better enjoy the meat that God provides. But how do we distinguish between meat and bones? Realize that meat represents intentional decisions to think and believe and act like Jesus truly is the Lord of our lives, “everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). We evaluate the faith component in line with God’s word. Yes, that might require some research, but that helps identify the bones. And bones can be a way we earlier served God, but that time has passed.
Then, we regularly re-evaluate our lives and thoughts and beliefs and actions to live strong in faith, “Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it” (2 Corinthians 13:5, Message).
Kick Starting the Application
When did you last give yourself a faith checkout to identify bones? What did you do about that? Any bones you suspect should be discarded?