Real Cowboys Don't Snap Beans

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  --Romans 12:3

This past weekend my wife and I were visiting with my mother, and Mom started to reminisce about my childhood.  She reminded me of the time when I was six or seven years old, and would spend much of the summer with my grandmother.  Grandma was married to a farmer named George in the Hill Country of central Texas.  The old farmhouse they lived in was not adjacent to their farm, but did have a small pasture out back with a lean-to shed and an old brown horse.

One day I put on my cowboy boots and walked out into the pasture behind the house.  George was out in his field across the highway driving a combine, which filled his trailer with maize.  Grandma was in the kitchen on the phone with my mother.  Suddenly, Grandma let out a terrified yell, dropped the phone, and ran out back waving her arms.

"Stop!  Stop!!" she yelled, frantically.

You see, I had found a short rope with a loop.  I calmly walked to where the horse was standing, placed the loop over the horse's head, and cinched it tight around his neck.  Then I led the placid animal to a water tank, climbed up onto the tank so that I would be tall enough, and I mounted the horse, riding bare-back.  The horse started toward the shed at a trot, which was not much taller than the horse himself.  I am sure that he intended to knock me off his back when we got to the lean-to.

At this point, my grandmother burst out of the back of the house, hollering hysterically.  The horse stopped short just outside the shed, just as I was deciding in my mind whether I could duck under the shed's roofline, or if I would have to exhibit some more daring horsemanship like I had seen trick riders do at the circus or the rodeo.  Grandma demanded that I get down off that horse this instant, and come back in the house where she could keep an eye on me.

Later that day, Grandma had picked some fresh green beans out of her garden.  She and I were on the shady porch, and she handed me a bowl.  "Here," she said, "help me snap the stems off these green beans before dinner."

I took the bowl off my lap and set it on the porch.  I crossed my arms over my chest and sulked.  "What's the matter?"she asked.

"Cowboys don't snap beans," I replied.

It seems that I had some definite ideas about what cowboys did and did not do.  In my six-year-old mind, I could not imagine that an adult Cowboy would do much else than just rope and ride.  In all the old western movies I had seen, when a cowboy wasn't on his horse, he was beside a campfire, or maybe near a chuckwagon eating beans and such.  It had never occurred to me that an adult cowboy would have adult responsibilities, like paying bills or finding work or even raising a child of their own.

I think a lot of people have misconceptions like that about certain professions.  My father was a pastor, and I am sure there were people in his congregation that thought he only worked about three hours a week--preaching on Sunday morning, and leading Bible Studies on Sunday night and Wednesday night.  Those more familiar with the calling might realize that a pastor was also expected to keep office hours during the week for counseling and Deacon's meetings, as well as visit the sick and shut-in church members as needed.  However, I'll bet no one ever imagines that a pastor might get a call in the middle of the night from the police department saying that they found water flowing out the door and into the street from a broken pipe in the rest room.  I remember going to the church with my Dad after just such a call, and seeing him put on rubber boots, wade upstream to turn off the overflowing toilet, then using a broom or squeegee to push the pools of water out of the fellowship hall and drying off the tile floors.

Being an adult means sometimes doing things you never thought you'd have to do.

Similarly, being a Christian means sometimes doing things that go against your nature.  C.S. Lewis wrote:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

As we grow in our faith and in our relationship with God, we learn more about being like His Son.  We are taught humility, because we see that Jesus washed His disciples' feet.  We are taught to be a servant to all, because Jesus said, "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35).

We also learn to sometimes ignore what people think being a Christian means.  In their ignorance, the World might say that the Bible says we must love everybody all the time.  However, a deeper reading of scripture reveals that Jesus said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34).  The World conveniently forgets that Jesus Himself became pretty violent when He saw the commercialization of the Passover.

In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.  And making a whip out of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.  And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.  And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."  His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."  --John 2:13-17

During these times, there may be criticism of those who call themselves Christians.  Some may say things like, "Real Christians don't hate." When you hear things like this, please do not let non-Christians control the narrative.  Real Christians are to be like Christ, and there are definitely things, and people, that Jesus did not love.  Pray for discernment.  Pray for the ability to educate those who attack us with lies and distortions, standing up to them with truth and power.

My fellow Christians, grow up.  Be an adult.  Do not follow some fantasy of Christianity, but strive to become more like Christ.  Read His word, and put it into practice.  Do not attack those who may be at a different point in their Christian growth, but be sure to defend your faith against those who have no idea what true Christianity really means.