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A Rancher's Rumblings | |
| August 12, 2008 |
| SEEING GOD IN A LIFE OF SKUNKS, DIESEL BATHS, AND BARN APARTMENTS |
The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. – Frederick Buechner
Frederick Buechner is my favorite Christian author, because he is so human, so real, so much in touch with what it means to live life honestly. One of the most important things that a Christian can do to grow is read, and I highly recommend everything Buechner has written. If you’ll Google “Frederick Buechner,” you will find numerous quotes from his writings. I urge you to do so.
Buechner is an ordained Presbyterian minister who never was a pastor but has written many books. Following are my favorites:
Buechner often urges his readers to listen to their daily life and see what God is doing there. I try to do that, but I’m struggling lately.
One night this week, Loretta shut the garage door and went to bed without mentioning that she had shut the door all the way (we usually leave it up about a foot for cats and dog to get in and out). I opened the door the next morning and nearly gagged at the smell of skunk.
My scream woke up Loretta. She said, “I shut the door to keep the skunk out that has been eating the cat’s food.” Well, as it turned out, she had in fact locked the skunk IN the garage. Unfortunately, I had let the dog out of the house at midnight, so he spent 7 hours locked in the garage with the skunk!!!
(continued)
Amazingly, the dog avoided getting sprayed. However, Loretta’s Yukon may smell of skunk for the rest of its life.
But that was just this week. Last week was interesting, too. One day last week, I went to fill up a 5-gallon diesel can, because I was paying Loretta’s grandsons to spray mesquite on the ranch with diesel mixed with Remedy and Reclaim (and water).
Diesel tanks have a large spout, which doesn’t fit in most plastic cans. Well, at least it sure didn’t fit in this one. As I tried to get the diesel into the can, it pressured up and blew diesel all over me. My hair wound up dripping diesel, as did my clothes – and I had an appointment in 30 minutes. It was horrible!
So I went into the convenience store restroom to clean off as best I could. This restroom had a water faucet that you have to keep pushing to keep the water flow going. Well, I tried to wash up with one hand, while pushing the faucet with the other hand. Then, because there were no hand towels, I had to bend down and stick my face and hair under an air blower. Right then and there, I swore that, if I ever find whoever invented blowers to take the place of paper towels, I would give them a good, hard kick – in a loving Christian spirit, of course.
To further complicate life, we sold our house, which is a good thing. However, now we have to move, which is never fun. We are moving to an 800-square-foot apartment (in a barn I built) while our house is being finished. That’s fine if you’re young and newly married. But something tells me that it’s not going to be a lot of fun at our age, especially when my wife keeps saying, “I can’t believe you built only one bathroom.”
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So, umm, remembering Buechner’s advice, I am listening to my life and trying to hear and experience God at all times. Well, to be honest, life feels pretty stupid at times. Where is God in skunks and diesel and barn apartments? And does He not have better things to do than worry about my silly experiences?
So where is God in my life?
God is with me every second of every single day, just as He is with every single person on the face of the earth. Missionaries do not carry God to places – they go and join with God, who is always there. They go and join in the things that God is trying to do there and with which He wants them to help.
God is with me when I’m stupid, brilliant, sad, and happy, just as He is with the person in a Sudan refugee camp who has no home. He cares for us equally and wants to share life with us.
Where is God? He is always trying to use every experience in life to help us love Him more and experience His love more, but He controls very little, if any, of our lives. At least that’s what I think.
So what can I learn from a skunk, a diesel bath, and a barn apartment? I can remind myself how wonderful it is to be alive and to be “surprised with joy” at life’s unexpected moments. And I can remind Loretta that she once said she loved me so much she’d live in a shack with me, and then go see whether we can have fun in a barn apartment for the next 6 months!!! And, umm, I can remind myself that this is a great time to spend less time on the Internet and watching baseball, and instead spend my time just being with her and enjoying her presence. Pray for me.