Many years ago, back in the good old days of the middle 1970’s, I had been going through a time when it seemed like Murphy’s Law was in effect most of the time. Murphy’s Law – “If anything can go wrong, it will.” I had become weary and felt overwhelmed both mentally and physically. Then one afternoon I got an unexpected phone call from a friend who said, “Come over to Gary Washburn’s house and see the rodeo.” I jumped in the car and got there just in time to see the action.
Gary had bought a couple of calves and was attempting to load them to take them to another pasture. The calves had interesting names – Ralph and Running Bear. Gary had Harold Lee Horn helping him. Ralph put up a little resistance but both of them loaded him into the trailer without too much difficulty. Running Bear was another story.
He lived up to his name. in fact, whoever named him must have been prophetic. When they tried to load him Running Bear started kicking and whirling around and finally broke free and started down the hill. Well he almost broke free. Harold Lee grabbed his tail and down the hill they went together. Harold Lee finally tripped but managed to hold on as Running Bear dragged him several feet. Finally he let go and Running Bear leaped a small fence, ran a short distance, turned around and was perfectly calm as though nothing had happened.
I laughed till I thought my ribs would crack as I watched Gary and Harold Lee finally chase down Running Bear and get him loaded into the trailer. I felt so much better. My situations were still the same, but I wasn’t. “A merry heart does good like a medicine.” So I learned a secret. When the load gets heavy and the road seems long – lighten up! Stop and watch an Andy Griffith rerun. Barney will make you laugh. It will do you good. After all, even God has a sense of humor. If you don’t think so, go look at yourself in a mirror. Just think, He made over 7 billion funny looking creatures like the one staring back at you in the mirror.
J.T. Parish is the Founding Pastor of Christian Fellowship Church. He further serves on the Church Leadership Council, as Chairman of the Board of World Missions and Evangelism, and as President of the School of Ministry.