Out Our Way: Doing it wrong

John 14:6 'I am the Way, the truth and the life'

Out our way, everybody knows you mount a horse from the left side. More importantly the horses know it. But now and then some greenhorn will want to get on from the right (and wrong) side. The results can be interesting. Like everybody I know, my rope is tied on the right side of the saddle and would make mounting on that side a bit difficult. Doc is a pretty even-tempered fellow - and although he has dumped me a few times, it was never on purpose. It was my poor riding skills and his incredible ability to trip over his own "feet". (How many horses have you ridden that have 4 LEFT FEET ?)

I have only known Doc to buck once , but if someone attempted to mount from the wrong side - who knows? He can be a sensitive fellow and that just might spook him. I have known horses that are that easily riled and would definitely object to someone trying to get on from the WRONG SIDE. 

There are other things that Doc and others object to when people do it the wrong way: - like not smoothing out the saddle blanket when saddling, facing the wrong way when leading the horse, trying to shove the bit into a reluctant horse's mouth instead of pressing on the tongue from the side, yanking the reins instead of firmly directing with both reins and legs, etc. And if you saddle a horse the wrong way - like not tightening the cinch or placing the saddle too far back...well I have visited the grave of a youngster who did both and paid the price for doing it wrong. 

I wonder how many of us "dust eaters" (a term for lousy cowhands relegated to the back of the herd to ride drag due to often being more of a liability than a help to the Brand) in the Church have been guilty of "doing it wrong". Oh, it is easy for me to see fellow Christans messing up and clearly "doing it wrong". The ones who show no compassion for their neighbor - the selfish ones who go to Church regularly and brag about it, but never live the faith, the loud and boastful religious hypocrite who has no repentance or humility except for show.

Ah yes, I can see and point to them clearly. But then, God can see and point to me even more easily! As Robbie Burns, poet laureate of Scotland, once wrote "Wad some Power the giftie gie us, tae see oursels as ithers see us" ( English: "Would that God granted us the ability to see ourselves as others see us.") Och,aye, Robbie. Aye!  

In prayer I sometimes try to do just that - for quite often I have wandered the wrong way and don't always realize it . ( Pride, selfishness, ego, etc are all factors) . For whatever my excuse, I am doing the discipleship wrong. I am not walking in the Way; and given my supposed discipleship commitment, others follow me, assuming I am walking in the Lord, when I am doing it wrong.

I easily see this fault in "ithers" ( as Robbie Burns put it) , but 'tis dreadfully hard tae see it in self. Only spending time in prayer and asking, as did the first disciples when told one was a traitor.."Is it I, Lord?" Sadly, quite often the answer is: " Yes". Trust Christ to show you when you are doing it wrong , but rejoice in that He will also show you how to correct it.

Be blessed and be a blessing.

(The "dust eater disciple") 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].