Running Hogs
By Jerry Ousley
Sometimes I
hesitate telling some of the things I did as a kid growing up. I
don't want to give kids of today any ideas. But then maybe if
they'd pull some of the pranks we did as kids they wouldn't be
in as much trouble today. We all pull pranks as kids (and some
of us haven't grown up yet). I'm sure many of you have done
things you wouldn't want your kids to do, am I right? But I'll
tell this on myself just to illustrate a point. Okay enough
already; let's get down to business here.
We were "mighty hunters" in those days. My brother, cousin, and
I would stalk all kinds of prey in the woods with our Daisy BB
guns. This one particular hot day as we were walking up the road
we took notice of a rather large hog pen. We had passed it many
times before but not with the glint in our eyes we had that day.
One of us pointed the trusty Daisy in the direction of a big hog
and squeezed a round off. That hog jumped, danced, and did the "heeby-jeeby"
all at once. Of course we all laughed at the way that fat hog
did her graceful jig. With that kind of entertainment going on
how can you stop with just one shot?
Someone else said, "Hey, let me try that!" And before anyone had
a chance to object another hog was doing the same thing. One
thing led to another and well, we found ourselves in the hog pen
(which went way back into the woods) chasing those hogs all over
the place. It was a good thing we had plenty of ammunition
because some of the really big ones started toward us, but only
until they felt the fury of our BB's.
I'm sure we ran several pounds off those hogs that day and if
the owner had known he wouldn't have appreciated it one bit.
Here's the thing though, had those hogs united and withstood a
few more "stings" they could have easily run off three skinny
boys in a hurry.
That incident reminds me of how we Christians do the same thing.
We just amble through life doing our own thing. The devil sticks
temptation in front of our noses and instead of asking for help
and appearing like we can't handle it, we run as fast as we can
while the devil grins from ear to ear at the sight. He runs us
poor just like we did those hogs that day.
But if we'd bind together it could be a whole different story.
In promising blessings to the nation Israel God had told them
that if they were obedient to Him and stood together that they
would see the time when 100 men would put 10,000 enemies to
flight. (Leviticus 26:8). In reference to the Church He said
that where two or three were gathered together in His name that
He would be there in their midst (Matthew 18:20).
Think of it! When we stand together with Christ in our presence
we can send many enemies running for their lives. The problem is
that most people including today's Christians are so busy
looking out for "number one" that coming together isn't even
given a second thought. All we need to do is to put our petty
differences aside and acknowledge others and their worth,
knowing that we will need them to take up for us one day. Just
think of what we could accomplish for the kingdom of God and for
mankind. What d'ya say? Should we give it a try?
Jerry D. Ousley is the Author of three books, "Soul Challenge",
"Soul Journey" and "Ordeal." Listen to our daily broadcast
Spirit Bread. Find out more by visiting www.spiritbread.com
or email us at jousley@spiritbread.com
