Out Our Way: Babe Versus Doc

1 Corinthians 13:1 - 'Though I speak in the tongue of men and angels, if I have no love I am but a clanging gong ... '

Out our way, a good cow horse is essential for working the herds. Now my cow pony stood 17 hands high, was a "4 left hoof wonder" and was like riding a jack hammer. But he had a cow sense and taught me a lot...hence his name " Doc". He was my Professor with his Doctorate in Cow and Horse Sense. More than once he disciplined me for failing to pay attention and tossed me into the cactus, rocks and hard dirt, to make a point, and he did teach me some cow sense. However Babe, his girlfriend, was a petite and beautiful sorrel paint whose ride was so smooth I often said I could sp coffee and read the paper at full gallop. But she was not a cow horse.

If you read these columns, you will recall the incident with the "Will Smith" calf. With his big ears and gaping mouth, he was a bovine version of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air " star. Babe panicked when she saw him staring at her and it took some 10 minutes of circling and "Will" taking off, before she settled down. I am not sure she could ever get over her cow-phobia - but I know I don't have the skill or ability to work her into becoming a decent cow pony. Doc, for all his clumsiness and jack hammer gait, was the one I led out of the paddock and loaded into the trailer when Charlie and I wanted to work Big Mike's herd on the "Tiger".

Now, as most of you know, the least talented and useless cowhand always rides "drag" (the rear of the herd for you Hollywood folk) and are dubbed "the dust eaters" as the cattle raise up a cloud of dust as we move them forward. Even so, we are the ones who also move the herd. To the casual observer and non-cowhand, the swing, flank and point riders seem to be the most important, but they guide the herd while us "dust eaters" are the ones who move them.

In the modern Church in the USA, "medicine show" TV preachers like Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Kenneth Copeland seem glamorous to the gullible and raked in the cash, but it was us ordinary "dust eaters" like you and me, whom God uses to move the Lord's herd. Despite her beauty, smooth gate and easy rhythm, it was not Babe. but clumsy, "4 left hooves," Doc who was the real cow pony at the roundup.

Some of you have sensed you are also mere "dust eaters" in the Lord's crew - and it may indeed be true. I recently dealt with the death of a "dust eater" whose faith and love of God so shone, that the church was filled with mourners at his funeral. Knowing him, I expect he had no idea of what an impact he made on so many. He was "just a dust eater". But the BOSS knows and many did as well. I am proud to have ridden the Lord's range with him as a fellow "dust eater."

If you are also a "mere" dust eater in the church and the world; tighten your cinch and put on your trail scarf. We have work to do and while no one else may notice, he BOSS does.

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John, tour Pard and fellow dust eater

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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].