Out Our Way: Charlie's hat

Luke 1:46 - "For behold! Your cousin Elizabeth has also conceived in her old age and this is the sixth month of her who was called 'barren.'"

Out our way, a cowboy's hat is a signature, autobiography, and ID all at the same time. Years ago, the cartoonist JR Williams had a comic - for which this column is named - called "Out Our Way." Many of his cartoons revolved around cowboys, and I especially remember one showing the cowhand Curly wearing and using his hat in all sorts of situations. A little poem went with the cartoon: 

"You can talk of Cookie's flapjacks that will wear your teeth down flat - but they ain't made nothing tougher - than a cowboy's hat."

Now many of you know that when my saddle pard, Charlie Floyd, died, he left me his hat. Between the two of us, it has seen a lot of wear and tear. Some folks have asked why I just don't buy a new one. Others have suggested I could get it cleaned up and maybe reshaped. Well, I have toyed with both ideas, but I figure I will let things be. It is worn out, beat up, and pretty battered these days. But then, so am I. 

There is the saying that "time waits for no one," and, like Charlie's hat, the passage of time leaves a mark. My heyday is past and instead of coming out of the chute shouting "Powder River! Let 'er buck!" I am putting a quarter in the coin-operated "Horse Ride" in front of the grocery store.

I can see 100 identical hats at the Western wear store, but in time each will be distinctive and tell its own story. And in cowboy country, a hat has to be broken in before it is really fit for service.

Now, two of Israel's greatest women were barren most of their lives. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary. Their heyday was long gone. By the cultural standards of their day, they were failures, and now they were old and worn out. Even so, their glory days were still ahead. One became the mother of Isaac and the other bore and raised John the Baptist and prophet sent to prepare the way of Christ. Both were old and past their prime when God picked them and raised them up for their sacred calling. No one else would do. 

So I look at the beat up, worn out, stained and battered Charlie's hat. I look in the mirror at that beat up, worn out, stained and battered old coot staring back. How old, beat up, worn out and battered were Sara and Elizabeth when God chose them? Maybe, like Charlie's hat, we are not done, maybe we had to get this far and this old and worn out to be ready for the task God has ahead. Maybe God needs an old coot and a youngster won't do.

Maybe the real adventure is still ahead. 

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write "Out Our Way." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].