The Bad Guy

      I was in town the other day for some of our young people's basketball games.  While waiting for two late night championship games, I received a phone call from my neighbors saying they thought something was wrong with one of my horses.  He was lying down and they could not get him up.  I asked them if they saw any injury, bones, blood, etc.  They said did not appear to be any visible problems.  Next question.  Is he rolling back and forth.  The answer: Yes.  My unprofessional diagnosis was COLIC.  He needed to get up and walk.  Colic is an impaction in the disgestive system and if he lies there he could soon die.  "Do whatever you have to to get him up". I told them.   If he continued to roll he could twist his intestines and the only way to save him then would be a very expensive surgery and it would not be a sure thing.
      I was about 35 minutes away and every minute could prove crucial.  When I arrived, Sonny (the horse) was lying against the fence and my neighbors' eyes were full of tears.  Sonny belonged to their teenage daughter.  They had pulled, pushed and encouraged in every way they knew to get him up to no avail.  They had simply been unable to get him up and feared the worst.  We had no idea how long he had been lying there or how many times he had rolled.  He had knocked the gate off the hinges of his stall, probably while rolling in the stall in the early stages of his colic.  Long story short, we knew he had been down at least and hour.  Time was of the essence.
      I asked them to step back, pulled his hoofs off of the wire fence he was lying against and commenced to attack him like a "bear", sound effects and everything.  My knee landed in the middle of his stomach with a thud.  I yelled, holler and kicked like a wild Banchee (don't have a clue if that is spelled correctly) Indian.  Ten seconds later he was up.  That was a far cry from the consoling strokes on the forehead my neighbors lovingly were giving him.  She looked at me like I was the meanest man she had ever seen and I admit I was in panic mode.  She had known me for years and had never seen me loose my cool like that.  Needless to say Sonny didn't know what had hit him.  I'm not exactly the Horse Whisperer, but I could hear Sonny (the horse) saying, "Hey dude, what's up with you.  I thought I was your bud.  I was just lying here doing nothing to you and you attack me.  That ain't right." However, the reason I jumped in the middle of his stomach, kicked him and tried to scare the "poop" out of him LITERALLY, was because I wanted him to live.  I care deeply for all my horses and I fall apart if one goes to "horsey heaven".  By the way, after walking Sonny from 8:30 to midnight, pumping him full of mineral oil, he is doing fine today.  Probably a bit bruised in the ribs, sore on the butt, but alive and well.  He does seem a bit apprehensive when I approach, just kidding.  I think he sensed I was on his side.
      That is exactly how God is.  He is willing to look like the "bad guy" when He knows it is what is best for us.  We can't even begin to imagine how much God wants us to love Him.  He is passionate about us and He is a jealous God, but even at the risk of appearing like a bully, He so loves us  that He is willing to do the hard things in our lives.  This is certainly not to drive us away, although many turn their back on Him during these tough times.  They perceive Him unfair, unjust, harsh, uncaring or at least unconcerned.  He looks bad and they are done with Him, when in reality He draws us back to Himself during the toughest times.  He wants us to depend on Him, to need Him, to want Him and sometimes its only the hard times that cause us to seek Him.
      Many times He has jumped on me with both feet to get my attention.  Why?  Because He wants me to live.  I may think, "God, I was down here minding my own business and you allow all hell to break loose.  How long do we have to go through this.  Do You not care?"  Andre Crouch had a song in my college years called, "Through It All" that hit a nerve with the Christian community.  There was line that went this way, "if I never had a problem, I wouldn't know He could solve them, I wouldn't know what faith in God could do". It is in those toughest times when God may appear the meanest, the most distant that He is the most loving.
      It is that God that makes everyday an adventure.  He holds my feet to the fire, but never lets it burn me.  You will find His greatest love in the darkest times and that is why the journey is incredible.  JOIN THE JOURNEY.