You might be surprised at this post!
By Frederick Remington
You all have a VERY special treat today, with my good friend from Taos daze, Jeff Boyer, bringing some cowboy wisdom. Enjoy it and be blessed! PS read the poem aloud!
A Yiddish proverb says, “Man tries and God laughs.” I appreciate God’s sense of humor that must find regular targets in our earnest attempts to do the right stuff. Scripture is pretty clear, though, that, for God’s people, planning—and, often enough in my case, lack of planning—needs some sense and flexibility. For instance…
James 4:14-15: “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow… Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’”
And to the point of Thunder Bob’s story, Proverbs 27:12: “The prudent sees danger and hides himself but the simple go on and suffer for it.”
The Ropin’ Fool
I've always liked a good hemp rope,
strong 'n' pull'd out right,
though I've taken my dallies with a rawhide riata
when the mesquite was thick and tight.
Now ole Thunder Bob was a ropin' fool,
he just had’ta flick 'n' throw.
Roped himself a big diamondback onct,
put on quite a show.
There it was in the middle of the trail,
coiled up, head weavin' round.
Thunder Bob begins to build him a loop,
figgers to take that snake to ground.
Drops that loop right `round the snake's head,
starts takin' his dallies, slow,
`til he sees his horse warn't likin' this 't'all
'n' he was `bout to explode.
Now Thunder couldn't get that loop to go slack,
the snake kept twistin' `round.
It was his best ole hemp and Thunder couldn't bear
to just leave it on the ground.
But his horse was a'jumpin' and Thunder was a’cussing'
'n' the snake warn't any too pleased.
Thunder did some reflectin' ‘n’ saw it was best
to leave the rope with the beast.
"Why, he can keep that rope if he wants it so,"
Thunder decided there and then.
Anyway, he had a new one coiled in his bag
'n' it needed to git broke in.
Last we seen that rattler, he was headed south
draggin' the rope along.
He'd slip the noose and slither off soon
but by then we'd be long gone.
Thunder Bob whined the rest of the day,
leavin' his best rope was a big mistake.
Guess he shoulda thought of that before
he headed that big rattlesnake.
I often hear believers insist that every trail God sets us on is a path of ease, beauty, and abundance. In my decades of walking with Him, though, I have just not seen that to be the case as often as we are assured. The lives of Jesus, Paul, the other apostles, and centuries of faithful followers show it wasn’t always the case for them, either. Sometimes, many times in my experience, while the trail I’m on is His, the work’s hard, it rains, the wind howls, I get sunburned, I stumble…and God’s direction that many folks insist will bring beauty and ease mostly just guides me away from ropin’ a rattler.
Kick-Starting—or Spurring—the Application
While I watch for rattlers and the temptation to rope them, I need to find myself asking these questions:
Am I confused about the promises that fellow believers find in Scripture but don’t seem to work out in my life or the lives of people I love?
Do I worry that I’m not obeying fully or specifically enough?
Or am I giving way to expectations built on the words of men rather than asking Jesus to show me how “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” is being worked out in my life?