Parable of the Pony

Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)

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My pony is scheduled for surgery during this Holy Week; but because my favorite HD ranch is about 25 miles from our range and I'm kinda busy with pastoral and ecclesiastical babysitting responsibilites that seem to escalate before Easter Day, I rode her over last Saturday afternoon through a typical spring day near the Illinois-Wisconsin border: snow, sleet, gales, and...

A poser who likes to hang around authentics - happens at churches as well as HD ranches - who had just bought another advertisment to wear as if that turns posing into authenticity scoffed, "Didn't you check the weather channel before mounting your motorcycle?"

Response: "Yes, but you do what you gotta do; and, besides, if you don't choose to ride when the weather is bad, you won't know how to handle bad weather when..."

He shrugged; and I watched him saunter over to the clearance rack.

My buddy Charlie who really understands the culture said, "The ride over was great, wasn't it?"

"Absolutely," I responded with a smile.

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I got into trouble for scolding a colleague, "Man up!"

He's spent years feeling sorry for himself because it's sooooooo tough being a pastor.

Yeah, you gotta deal with posers - snakes and wolves in sheep's clothing and other posers getting in the way of the authentic exercise/expression of Christianity as personified in Jesus and prescribed in Holy Scripture - but the authenticity of call is confirmed by His empowering to overcome the hellish.

Simply, if you're called to something and stay tight with Him to live it, He provides the wherewithal to withstand bad weather.

It's a Matthew 7:24ff. thing.

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My pony works and plays.

She's cheaper than a cage.

She's more fun to ride than...

When we're together, I can't really tell if we're working because we're having so much fun.

Beruf.

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O.K., I don't expect everybody to get the preceding parable.

Some folks are so spiritually dense that they don't hear or see or even sense...

Some folks don't tarry or hang out long enough with the Lord to hear or see or even sense...

I think that's among the reasons why Jesus used so many parables.

Even if you spell it out for some folks like an instruction manual for Nintendo, they still ain't gonna get it/Him.

So you tell a story that maybe they'll remember and maybe someday...

Maybe.

Maybe not.

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The weather is getting worse in our world, nation, and even the church.

Some can't handle it.

They crash and burn.

But for those who know Jesus intimately, they keep riding through it all...

...with a smile.

When you're really called to it/Him, you don't know if you're working or playing.

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Blessings and Love!