James 1 2-4:
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider
it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested,
your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
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I would
like to start off by saying that I am a very happy person. God has blessed me
tremendously and I know that He is the source of all my blessings. I have been
blessed with a wonderful family who loves me. I have a wonderful “job” that is,
in fact, so good that I am hesitant to call it a job. I have a wonderful church
family that is supportive of my ministry (God’s ministry through me) at Cedar
Creek. I could go on and on and on and I probably should instead of starting
this next paragraph. The truth is God has blessed, and I am thankful.
Having said
that, I would like to address the nature of humanity. Please, don’t expect
Aristotle or Plato, but hang on for profoundness… It doesn’t matter how good you’ve
got it, there are going to be shaping experiences in your life. To the best of
my calculations, I have those experiences at least quarterly. I’ll share one of
them with you, and I’ll follow up with a reasoning behind the madness. Maybe you’re
going through a “shaping experience” and we can laugh at this one together.
Coonhounds & Ministry:
I was an
avid raccoon hunter for a total of about six months. It was a grand idea of
mine, just not a very successful one. The idea was rooted in sincerity, as I
wanted to find something in common with a certain group of young men within our
youth group. It was a relationship building opportunity. Looking back at it,
this was not the best idea I’ve ever had. After working all day on the farm on
a Saturday (which is important because I was scheduled to preach “big church”
the following morning), I decided to take my mediocre-at-best dogs for a run
with some of the boys from the youth group. I loved these dogs, but their
trainer (me) was definitely lacking. Anyhow, we turned loose at a place called
Saw Mill Holler up above Cedar Creek. It was supposed to be a honey hole. Right
out of the truck, the dogs struck a trail and hit it hard for about 50 feet.
Then they stopped like you turned off a light switch and took a dead left
toward some houses and away from any feasible raccoon. My first thought, “I’m
too tired for this, what was I thinking?” I looked down at my fancy little
tracking system and ol’ Charlie was leaving the country. 100 feet turned into 1600
yards in a heart beat. He was gone. So, we walked down the trail, got in the
truck, and headed in that direction. The good dog, Buster, met me at the road
when he heard the truck crank. He was too old to be interested in what was
taking place. Charlie, however, had winded a female companion somewhere down
the road and I was the last thing on his mind! I followed the tracking system
and found that he was behind a house and trying franticly to get into the dog
pen. Well, the house was fenced in and you don’t just go snooping around
somebody’s house at nine in the evening, so I waited at the road. To make a
long story short here is how this went down: A neighbor finally came out
carrying a shotgun wanting to know why in the world I was lurking around the community.
After he figured out who and why I was, he went with me to the home of
Charlie’s attractor. The said home owner was gone and the wife was scared to
death. She proceeds to lay a fine bead on my forehead with her Glock…
admirable, but unfortunate at the time. By God’s grace, she understood the art
of raccoon hunting and recognized me. “Go ahead and get him, help yourself,”
she said. So I go around back and step over a conspicuous, knee-high electric
fence. Come to find out, that fence was designed to keep their pet, 1000 pound
boar hog from attacking the neighbors. She didn’t tell me about him, but I quickly
found out. I finally got Charlie by the collar and was leading him back to the
truck when he vomited stolen cat food on my boot. That, my friends, is pretty
much the sum of it.
I have
since retired from hunting. I liked working the dogs, but the end result always
required the killing of the coon. I guess I’m getting soft in my old age, but I
don’t enjoy that like I used to. There’s always a moral to a story like this.
In this case, there are several. First, not all ideas, though good intentions,
are successful. Second, never take an electric fence for granted; it is there
to either keep something in or keep something out – or both. Thirdly, Satan will
use any tactic possible to distract good things from happening – as in the
following day’s sermon, in my case. Lastly, and most importantly, James 1:2-4!
This scripture is a grand reminder that through trials (even those in our lives
much more serious than the above) we can become stronger in our faith and
closer to God. Life will catch up to us. Bad things, sad things, crazy things,
and ridiculous things are going to happen to us; especially when you’re trying
to live right. When sin came into the world, Satan made it his goal and
last-ditch effort to try to trip everyone up in anyway that he can. It is not
easy being a Christian, especially one trying to serve in the ministry. Finances
will be tight. Toes will be stumped. Wedding bands will be lost in hay fields
(literally, not metaphorically). Equipment will tear up. All of this will
happen at the most inconvenient time. There is hope yet! Remember this quote
from my father: “If the devil is not working on you, he probably already has
you.” Even though we are waging war with Satan in this daily spiritual battle,
Christ won the war for us when he died on the cross! That’s pretty significant.
Also, in 1 Corinthians 10, Paul tells us that nothing will ever be placed on us
that we can’t handle. That is also good news. When it all boils down, James 1
is enlightening. The trials that we are going through are the same ones that
God is using to teach us endurance. It is that endurance that will allow us to
“fight a good fight and finish the race.” Consider it joy!
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