WITH: A Parable

Author:  Quentin Clark

Main Characters

Pop
A man of much talent in fatherhood and in business.  He has two grown sons.  His wife passed away in childbirth leaving him to raise the boys.  He's managed the family business, a ranching operation, since he was a young man. 

Ben
The older son.  He's his father's right-hand-man and obvious heir to the family business.

Jake
The young son.  He has little interest in the family business, but enjoys the wealth and status of his father's position. 

INTRO

It's early, Pop and Ben are at the kitchen table with the ranch foreman eating breakfast.  Pop stares out the window to where the driveway would be visible if the sun was up.

Ben:  What are you looking at, Pop?

Pop:  Nothing.  Just thinking.

Ben:  He ain't coming back.

The foreman gets up and excuses himself with a nod to Pop on the way out the door. 

Ben:  He's probably dead by now.  You heard what the Mason boy said.  He seen him in Vegas with strippers and hookers and hanger-on all around him.  He said he looked like he'd been up for days.  Probably on drugs.  Dead or not, he's dead to me for what he done to you. 

Pop stares out the window.

Ben:  How could you give him his portion of the ranch now?  He asked for his inheritance before you were even died!  He was all but saying he wished you were dead!

Pop:  We've been through this.  I thought giving him his part of the ranch would make him happy and draw us closer together.  He's a good man.  He may not always know it or act like it, but he is.  I figured if he owned those three sections, he'd take more of an interest in the ranch. 

Ben:  He took an interest alright!  An interest in how quickly he could sell it! 

Pop continues to stare as the sun just begins to light up the long driveway that disappears over the hill a half-mile or so away.

Ben:  He ain't coming back.  It's been over a year!  He's gone.  He probably dead.

SCENE 1

Pop and a group of ranch hands are working on a fence. 

Pop glances down the driveway every minute or so. 

Pop:  Buddy!  you got that post out of line.  Back it up a little and put a level on it.  No.  The other way.  There.  Now put the level on it. 

Pop glances down the driveway again, and turns at the sight of a cloud of dust.  He squints into the sun as a beat up Ford makes its way up the drive.  The truck pulls up and stops. 

Ben (from inside the truck):  You look like you seen a ghost. 

Pop:  What are you doing in Jake's truck? 

Ben:  I couldn't stand to see it rotting away over there on Jake's sections.  Well, not Jake's, but the Howard's now.  Mr. Howard said I could have it, but I wouldn't just take it.  I gave him a $1000 for it.  You got a lot of good use out of this truck.  You remember that time I drove it through the back of the barn.  I thought I was hitting the brake, but I just slammed on the gas. 

Ben roars with laughter and Pop smiles at the memory.

Pop:  You come close to running right through the garden before you finally found the brake.  You should have seen the look on your face.  And Jake was just laughing the whole time from the passenger seat.

Ben:  Well.  It's good to have it back. 

Pop:  I'm not sure it was Mr. Howard's to sell. 

Ben:  Mr. Howard asked Jake about it, and Jake told him he could have it.  He said Jake hollered, "Pink slip is in the glove box!" and drove off in his new Mercedes. 

Pop:  Well, what are you going to do with it? 

Ben: I figure I'll head up the mountain and bring the herd back down. 

Pop:  Take Buddy with you.  He ain't much for building fence, but he sure can bring the herd in. 

Buddy hops in the passenger seat with a big smile on his face, and Ben drives away. 

Pop looks down the drive again and puts a level on the post Buddy was trying to set. 

Another ranch hand comes over and helps. 

Pop:  Thanks, Sam. 

As Pop turns and looks down the drive, he spots a man walking.

Pop:  Sam!  Run inside and fetch a pair of jeans, a shirt, and my good boots from my closet!

Pop takes off running! 

Sam (to a nearby hand):  I ain't never seen Pop run!

SCENE 2

Jake hangs his head as his dad runs toward him.  Pop is out of breath and struggling,  but he keeps running. 

Jake:  Pop, I'm sorry.  He falls down to his knees.  I never should have treated you that way.  I never should have sold my part of the ranch!  I never should have asked for it!  I shouldn't have run off and blown all that money you worked so hard for!  I failed you!  I failed the family!  I failed the God you taught me to honor!  I want to come back and work for you.  You don't even have to pay me.  I'll do it for room and board.  Sleep out in the bunk.  Or the barn.  I don't care. 

Winded and smiling from ear to ear.  Pop grabs Jake and kisses his cheek and forehead.  He wraps him in a giant hug, and pulls him up to his feet.

Pop:  Can it be?  The thing I have prayed for for over a year?  The prodigal come home?  What a sight?  The image of you here and now back home.  My cup runneth over! 

Jake:  Pop.  I'm so sorry.  I'm just,,,so sorry. 

Pop:  You are here.  WITH us.  That is what matters. 

Sam pulls up and hands the clothes to Pop.  Brand new pair of Lucchese boots in crocodile leather, starched Ariat shirt, and starched Wranglers. 

Pop:  Here Jake.  Hop in the truck and change into these.  You're filthy! 

Jake just stand and stares at Pop, but Pop hardly notices.

Pop:  Sam!  Run over and get Frank.  Have him get the barn ready for a dance.  We rent that thing out all the time, and we haven't ever used it for ourselves.  It's high time we did.  What's the name of that steer we've been saving to eat on Easter? 

Sam:  T-Bone.

Pop:  Yeah, T-Bone.  Get Jimmy on the phone to come slaughter T-Bone and get him cut up for barbecue tonight.  And, Sam, get Cookie to get the grill and smoker ready for all  that meat. 

Sam:  Who all you inviting over?

Pop:  The whole valley, of course.  Just call Miss Rita.  Tell her Jake's home, and we're having a party.  Tell her I asked if she would call everybody and get them here around sundown. 

Pop:  Jake.  What are you doing? 

Jake:  Uh.

Pop:  Go on.  Get dressed. 

SCENE 3

It's dark, but light spills from the barn as do music and laughter. 

Ben pulls up in Jake's old truck with Buddy. 

Sam is walking toward the barn with his arms full. 

Ben:  Sam!  What in tarnation is going on here? 

Sam:  Your brother!  Jake!  He's home!

Sam heads inside

Ben:  Buddy!  Can you believe this?  I ain't never had a dance here.  I ain't never had a party here.  Jake the Land Grabber comes home, and we throw the biggest party the valley's every seen.  I'm going to bed.

Pop pokes his head out of the barn.

Pop:  Ben!  Come on!  Jake's home!  Come see! 

Ben turns and walks toward the house.

Pop comes out.

Pop:  Ben, what are you doing?

Ben:  Going to bed.  I've been working all day.  I'm tired.  I'm going to sleep.

Pop:  But Ben, your brother.

Ben:  Is dead to me.

Pop:  Don't say that. 

Ben:  How can you celebrate that selfish jerk who squandered everything we've worked for?

Pop:  He's my son.

Ben: Look, Pop, I've worked every day for you.  I've never disobeyed you.  I've given you everything I have.  For what?  Room and board?  You've never let me throw a party.  I've never got to use the barn for a dance.  I've never so much as been given a scraggly calf to barbecue with my friends.

Pop:  But, Ben.  You have always been WITH me.  Don't you see?  None of the rest of this matters.  It's just a way we can be together.  Everything I have is yours anyways.  How could I not celebrate?  Your brother--my son--was dead and now he's alive.  He was lost out there.  Now he's found.  He's WITH us. 

END

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) is the story of WITH.  Why else would a father respond to a request for the inheritance by splitting his property unless he was trying to communicate that WITH is more important than STUFF?  When the older brother came complaining about the celebration and demanding to know where his reward was, the father says, "My son, you are always with me."  WITH is the great reward that the father had to give his sons.  Both sons would trade son-ship to be slaves.  The prodigal son asks to be a slave out of guilt and shame after he sacrifice WITH for STUFF.  The older son makes himself a slave when he equates his position with heir of STUFF that he isn't getting, rather than recognizing that the gift of WITH is readily available and infinitely more valuable. 

Jesus simply invites us to come WITH Him.  Forget what you think you know about what God wants from you.  Forget what you think you have to do to earn His favor.  Because it's all rubbish!  WITH is the essence of what God is offering and asking of us.  He is simply saying, "Come WITH me."  It's there in Genesis 1-3 as God walked WITH Adam and Eve in the garden.  It's there in the Prodigal story.  It's there in the Gospels as God comes WITH us in the flesh as Jesus Christ.  It's there in Acts as the Holy Spirit is poured out on those who believe as God comes WITH us in the form of the Holy Spirit.  It's there in Revelation 22. 

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come."  And let the one who hears say, "Come."  Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes to take the free gift of the water of life.  (Revelation 22:17) 

It's a simple request that requires a simple response.  He says, "Come."  And we come.  There's a million ways to say it, but it all comes down to WITH. 

Won't you come WITH Him. 

Humbly,
Q

The Drum - A Divine Rhythm of Promptings to Refocus Priorities

Author: Ron Stock

 

 

On Valentine’s Day I received a group text from a friend in my study group. It was a reminder of the human condition, showing how life is essentially momentary, while we race around worrying about superficial matters. It was the knock-the-wind-out-of-you type of text that refocuses priorities in an instant. The text read-

“yesterday coming home from work, Billy had a heart attack. His heart stopped for twenty minutes. It is beating now on its own but they r worried about brain damage.  Still unconscious. Pray for him, his sister, and son.  He is in icu.  Pray and pray some more”

Today Billy is still in the hospital and showing little sign of brain activity. I expect the family will be confronted with a life support decision in the next few days, a decision no family should ever have to contemplate.  We are praying fervently for a miracle despite a one percent chance of survival from the medical staff. The doctors can’t seem to do anything more, however Billy would not want this in anyone's hands but the Almighty.

I met Billy in a bible study class three years ago and his testimony is profound. He suffered from multiple gunshot wounds several decades ago and lived to find Jesus. When Billy talks during our Monday night study group, the others in the group listen intently because he speaks with this uncanny conviction – not superficial but rather from the heart. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is at work in Billy’s life.

Five days before hearing the news about Billy, another friend who courageously battles fires for a living, lost a colleague. William died in the line of duty falling 40 feet from an icy overpass onto the bridge below.  On that night, Dallas was hit with a 'sneak attack' winter storm. According to news reports, the young firefighter was standing near a traffic accident on the topmost overpass when a speeding vehicle lost traction and pushed William over the bridge. My friend posted a picture of William hugging his boy at a little league game, with the caption-

“This young firefighter gave his life tonight. May he rest in the arms of the Lord forever. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13”

My heart goes out to this family. The son in the picture appeared to be the same age as my young son. Yet another gut wrenching reminder of our human condition - life is essentially momentary, while most of us race around worrying about superficial matters.

Just two weeks before the winter storm, a 16 year old girl from my daughter’s school plummeted 3500 feet to the ground in a skydiving accident. A birthday gift from her father turned into a nightmare when McKenzie's main parachute failed to open on a solo jump. On that day, miraculously, the hand of God reached out and scooped up this precious girl as she spiraled more than a half mile through the sky. She suffered broken bones in her back and broken ribs but she is alive and expected to make a full recovery.

Can you feel the cadence? I liken this stream of tragedies to a beating drum. A divine rhythm of promptings to refocus priorities. A drum echoing how life is essentially momentary as we race around worrying about superficial matters. Live life with purpose because tomorrow may never come.  I’m guilty of living this way. I spend long hours at work ignoring the life happening back at home. Scripture describes this human condition in James 4:14 –

“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

In other words, we are here today and gone tomorrow or better yet, like the morning dew, here this morning and gone this afternoon. Life is short.

What if today was your last day? Would you spend it racing around and worrying about superficial matters? Tell your wife you love her, share the gospel with that person you've been too fearful to approach, swing with your kids, forgive, laugh, sing, serve, pray and pray some more, live outside your comfort zone, but most importantly live with purpose - live intentionally.

  

The Colossal and Audacious Decision to Trust

 

 

Author: Stacy Hildebrand

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,  who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  2 Corinthians 3:4-6

In the state of Arkansas there is a small town called Prescott in its southwestern region.  There I spent most of my formative years learning how to read, add and bail hay.  I was in the 4H club, on the baseball team and a member of the high school marching band.  Trust came easily to me.  My parents took me to church pretty much every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening.  When I was older I drove myself.  The farm I grew up on was well over 100 acres and I roamed it freely.  In the winter I helped my dad cut and store firewood.  In the summer we took care of our five acre garden.  My uncle taught me to play the guitar and Mrs. Cannon taught me piano.  Trust came easily to me.  My first girlfriend was Monica in the fourth grade and we “went together” (where – I have no idea) for the better part of two years.  I learned to sing listening to singers like Sting, Billy Joel, Kenny Rogers, Don Henley, Phil Collins and Richard Marx.  I learned that if I played my piano and sang “Right Here Waiting” girls would pay attention.  And through all of this rather arbitrary-ness, trust came easily to me.  Trust came ridiculously easily to me.  Gullible, might be a better way to describe the “me” of back then. 

All of that changed when I entered college.  I had freedom there that could cause a five year old to salivate.  I could stay up as late as I wanted, go wherever I wanted – whenever I wanted.  It’s when you have this kind of freedom that you begin to question the things that are foundational to you.  It was then that I challenged the tenets I had been taught all my life.  The word “trust” became dubious.  Is God really listening?  Is God really even there?  These were questions that I never entertained before.  Now I heard them regularly from my peers and mentors alike.  I found myself asking them more and more often.  I lost sleep puzzling over all these truths that had been laid before me in years passed.  So, I made the decision that I would not simply “go with the flow”.  I decided that I would not merely fall in line with the teachings of those who taught me.  I would decide for myself what was true and live by whatever rules resulted.  At first this newfound liberty was akin to old, heavy, rusty shackles being removed from my heart and soul.  I could think my own thoughts.  I could do whatever I wanted.  The next couple of years were full of what I now refer to as foolish trial and error.  I sometimes went to worship (in the traditional sense) but often I would simply worship from Bedside Baptist.  God played almost no part in my decisions, at least from my perspective.  You might say I was in a place where I had given up on him.  I didn’t trust him or really anyone else.  I trusted only me.  But there was a problem.  With all this new freedom I wasn’t really happy.  In fact, I was most certainly unhappy!  I didn’t enjoy the life I was living.  I didn’t enjoy it, and I couldn’t figure out why.  Every character I watched on television and in film who existed in the manner I was attempting to exist was content.  Yet I was far from content.  I was empty. 

I had a best friend at the time who was journeying similarly and we had both agreed that the puerile belief systems of our childhood were beneath us.   When throwing off the contrivances of your youth it is essential to have a person in your life to give you courage.  Let’s call my friend Emil, because I have never personally known anyone with this name.  Emil would encourage me in my agnostic quest when I doubted my own resolve and I did the same for him.  But I reiterate, I wasn’t happy.  No matter how I tried to like this new life, I didn’t.  I couldn’t!  I felt hollow, transparent.  I was in a terrible dating relationship with a girl we’ll call Veronica, because I’ve never personally known anyone by that name.  My grades weren’t going all that well and I generally had no real direction for my life.  I was at a crisis point.

That’s about the time I realized that the real problem with the worldview I was ascribing to was where I placed my trust.  I was trusting. . . (pause for effect). . . ME!  However, I was finding that in spite of my extensive twenty something years I was hilariously unequipped to lead myself.  I began revisiting the ideals and beliefs of my past.  I thought back to the open fields of Nevada county (pronounced Neh-VAY-duh).  I remembered the old hymns of the Bluff City Church of Christ where I began leading worship when I was thirteen.  And something I didn’t expect happened.  I began to long for that time period again.  I began to crave the innocence and naiveté of my youth.  I hungered after the time when trust came easily to me.  I began desperately pouring over the Scriptures I had once been force-fed. But one very disheartening truth became more and more apparent.  As much as I wanted, I couldn’t go back to the innocence of the past.  The thing about innocence is that once it’s gone you can’t get it back.  I prayed to my God, “Please God, show me a sign.”  “I need to be able to trust you as I did before.”  “I need my life to have meaning!”  His answer came gradually.  He sent me a new set of friends who wanted to live a life of meaning just as much as I.  He sent people who also realized that that meaning could not be found within ourselves.  He also sent me a companion who would become the most important person in my life.  We’ll call this person Jennifer, because that is her actual name.  We all enjoyed lengthy spiritual discussions.  We celebrated the word of God in dialogue that challenged and grew us.  It was during this time period that I realized I no longer longed for the “me” of the past.  I was reading the words of Solomon and how he had tried out all the temptations of the world and found them wanting.  I saw a lot of myself in him – minus all the wisdom.  I also read Jesus’ words about taking care of all our needs giving the birds of the air and the lilies of the field as example.  I marveled that he contrasted the splendor of Solomon with the provision God provided.  And then it happened.

I made the colossal and audacious decision to trust my God. 

The man in me would love to say that I found the courage to make this decision completely within myself.  However, I know that isn’t true.  I was humbled by the fact that, in spite of myself, I had been led into the decision to trust.  I would never have gotten there by myself.  There was nothing within me that could have ever gotten me there.  And in this realization I found that I was better here than I had ever been in my childhood.  That isn’t to say that I no longer appreciated the innocence of the past, I just now realized that my God didn’t want me to blindly believe out of ignorance.  He wanted and still wants me to have a deeper appreciation for him.  He allowed my straying (without approving of it) because he had a better plan for me and had already decided to preserve me through that desert period.  My understanding of that made my trust all the more sweet.

Trust is ultimately a decision.  It’s an audacious decision because it laughs in the face of human reasoning.  It’s a colossal decision because everything depends upon it.  Yet this is where I, you, WE all need to be.  My God pursued this farm boy from Arkansas when there was absolutely NO good reason to do so. 

He is pursuing you as well.

Father, help me to trust you today, tomorrow and every day after that.  I know that I am a fool to the world.  Help me be even more foolish before them as I increase in faith in you.  Draw me ever closer to you and forgive me for straining against my yoke.  Thank you for your patience and grace.  It is in Christ I pray,  Amen.

Sleeping with Tigers

Author: Vince Gilbert

 



Once upon a time, I literally slept with tigers.  A particular tiger gained my entire trust. 

At first, I was scared to death of this tiger.  Then, I touched him, and he didn’t hurt me.  I rode him, I played with him, I introduced him to others, and he hurt no one. 

He then tore a man to pieces in front of me for no reason…other than…he was a tiger.  I threw up. 

This is the way drugs and alcohol work in our lives.  We try it a little and no harm is done.  Then, we try it some more until we trust it.  We introduce it to others.  Then, it kills us. 

satan works the same way.  We sin a little and nothing happens.  We sin more and nothing happens, so we learn to trust sin.  We introduce it to others.  In essence, we come to trust satan. 

BUT satan being satan and a tiger being a tiger…either is just waiting to kill us. 

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only way to LIVE.  Spread the word!


-Vince

Diminshed-There is Blessing in Need

It started with a thumb that kept wanting to hit the space bar, even after it was time to stop doing so.  A part of me knew the label that would be placed on this unruly thumb.  It took several years and a divine nudge to get me to a physician, who sent me to another physician who ultimately pulled out his metaphorical label-maker and labeled that thumb (now turned entire right hand)  "PARKINSON'S DISEASE."  (Either he was going for drama with all caps or his label maker was stuck on caps, and he didn't know how to change it.) 

I can tell you a thing or two about a life diminished.  (Click HERE to learn about diminished chords and their relationship to living.)  I can tell you about the awkward dissonance of the events of a life that seem out of place, wrong even. 

I can tell you about taking pills. 

 

Lots of pills. 

I can tell you about holding a cup under a soda dispenser wondering how much of the soda is going to end up in the cup.

I can tell you about getting more salsa on the counter than in a bowl.

I can tell you about a fearful future. 

But just as the diminished chord only makes sense when heard within the greater context of the song, so the diminished life only makes sense when considered within the context of the whole. 

There is blessing in need. 

It seems ridiculous, but when you are in need, the door is open for blessing to enter.  We work and struggle to avoid being in need, and I think that is appropriate.  But, then we work and work to fill every want and desire.  We make our business blessing ourselves, and we miss the opportunities to bless those around us.  We are perhaps most like God when we are meeting the needs of others than at any other time.  And, oh, the blessing when God rushes into our weakness and gives us strength greater than that within us!  Only those in need know that quickening.

And so, I pray the only prayer I know to pray in my weakness:  "Lord, make me able."  

And in praying for myself in this way, God has led me to pray for others who have the same need I have, a desperate need to be ABLE for the day at hand. 

He has led me to His promises that assure me that I will be ABLE for all He lays before me. 

And I lean into those promises, and I trust. 

This is HOPE.  This is FAITH.  These are gifts that have come only through the dissonance of the present reality.  The seemingly wrong become perfectly right as the chord shifts from the awkward to the harmonious. 

I wonder if there has been a time when your NEED has become the source of YOUR GREATEST BLESSING.   If so, you too know the blessing of the diminished life.  I hope you'll share your experience with us in the comments below.

Humbly,
Quentin