A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about faith, rest and rodeo.
My husband Al could relate to our faith and the ups and downs of the cowboy and his rodeo quest for success. He wrote a follow-up article on faith and rodeo article with his own approach …
I’m not the kind of guy who attends retreats or quotes very much scripture. I do, however, love Jesus, my faith and Sunday Mass. I find my wife, the convert, to have an unflinching Catholic faith and devotion that still gives me pause after 42 years of marriage.
To take her faith and rodeo topic a step further, when one competes in Bronc or Bull riding in the rodeo, the cowboy must stay on the animal for a full eight seconds and the buzzer sounds in order to be credited with a “good ride.”
These horses and bulls are bred specifically for one thing — to be the nastiest bucking machines possible. Fifty percent of the total score is attributed to the cowboy, the remaining 50 percent is attributed to the animal. So, the competitor randomly draws his ride and then hopes the animal puts on his best show as he hangs on for dear life.
Isn’t this our life in a nutshell? Every morning, we crawl out of bed and into our lives, much like a cowboy gets into the chute and climbs on the animal not knowing what to expect. Only, instead of a horse or bull, we face the kids, the boss, the world’s worst driver, our co-worker that always gets under our skin, finances, and our health — and pray that we can hang on until the “buzzer” sounds at the day’s end.
Much like the cowboy’s score, we too have a score of sorts. Much of what we face is completely beyond our control, like the 50 percent of the cowboy’s score given to the animal. The cowboy has no idea if the horse is spinning to the left or dropping his head — just like we have no control over why our co-worker is in a terrible mood or an acquaintance decides today is a good day to pick on Catholics. You go through that ride to the best of your ability and hope for a “good” score with the Almighty.
How many times have we been “thrown” before the buzzer went off? We snap at the kids before really understanding their view, or mumble something about the driver in the next lane that we wouldn’t put in print, or any of the other challenges we face under our “saddle” every day.
Unlike the rodeo, we have an unlimited number of “rides” to beat the buzzer, because our God knows just how hard it is to stay in the saddle and do the right thing — all the while hanging on to the saddle to get through life. All that we have to do is ask for His help to make a good ride and His forgiveness when we fail to make a good ride.
What I also find amazing is the fact that the cowboy puts his body and mind through this eight seconds of near-death experience for very little money and almost no fame outside of maybe a mention on the Cowboy Channel and hopes of winning a gold belt buckle.
That’s our challenge – to go through life, living our faith for each eight-second ride throughout the day, with no fame or recognition.
So, the next time God puts a challenge under your saddle, think of getting in the chute, grabbing hold of your faith like the cowboy grabs his saddle horn and riding that challenge for a full eight seconds.
If the cowboy has enough good rides at the end of the rodeo, he gets the gold buckle. If we have enough good rides when our rodeo is over, when the Big Cowboy in Heaven calls us home, we earn eternal life — a million times more rewarding than a gold buckle!
So, when you end your day tomorrow, ask yourself how you did you do on your myriad rides today? Did you get thrown in the first three seconds? Did you come close to falling face-first in the dirt but pull it out with a little help from the Holy Spirit? Did you make a few rides all the way to the buzzer and walk away proud that I rode that demon? If we can ride these challenges for eight seconds, can we ride them for 20, for 1,000? Only with the help of Our Loving God.
Hang on tight, it’s worth the ride!
Thank you,
Al Crock