From the Desk of a Geek; Cowboy Up

From the Desk of a Geek:

Cowboy Up

I'm not a country boy, a cowboy, or a farmer. That's my wife, with the exception of being a "cowgirl" not a cowboy.

But sometimes I daydream with my guitar while sitting on a hay bale watching my wife ride or work with her horses.

I daydream about being a cowboy in the old west. Maybe a peacemaker like Wyatt Earp, or a gambling gentleman like Doc Holiday, and sometimes I sit and daydream about legendary rodeo star Lane Frost,  an American professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and left this world way to soon...

Just like getting on the back of a bull or reaching out to grab that steer, finding salvation takes courage.

It means looking closely at yourself and your beliefs and, as an adult, overcoming the challenge of believing in something you cannot see or touch with what might require child-like faith.

Jesus was real. Beyond what we see in the Bible, he was a real, walking, talking, historical figure verified in more than the Bible itself. But He was much more than just a prophet or a good teacher as many describe him–Jesus was the Son of God, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies of a coming savior.

And like the courage needed to compete in any rodeo sport, finding salvation, a perfect eternal life in Heaven, means finding the courage to believe with all your heart that Jesus was the Son of God and believing the sin we are born into keeps up separated from God without Jesus.

Think of the rage an infant is capable of expressing, untaught, to understand we’re born into sin and it is that sin that separates us from God. 

Isaiah 59:2 says..

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that he will not hear”.

But while God shows both wrath and love, He is also just and in his justice, sin must be dealt with 

Romans 6:23  reminds us "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord”. 

The last part of that verse tells us, God is also good and has provided a gift to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Christ was sent to die for our sins, to receive God’s wrath that was meant for us, before being resurrected so that through our faith and belief in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we could be ‘saved’; given eternal life in Heaven because through Jesus we could be see without sin and allowed in the presense of God.

The Bible documents the willingness of Jesus to die an agonizing death, nailed to a cross. It documents His resurrection three days later and the preparation of His disciples to spread the word of salvation to the rest of the world. 

Since that day about 2000 years ago, generation after generation of Christians have been spreading that message, helping others find Christ and the salvation he offers. 

If you can find the courage to ride a bull or wrestle a steer, can you find the courage to make Jesus the lord of your life.

Lonnie