Lessons from a comic strip - www.amtech.net
By James Dodwell – Hammers of Hope
Good Morning,
I am a comic strip reader. I buy a Sunday paper just for the
comics. Why? Well, it’s the only thing in the paper these days that makes any
sense to me. The funny strips are my preference. The political and soap opera
story strips are my least favorite. Who cares, right? Recently, I saw one with
two cavemen, one was a salesman the other the customer. The cave-salesman was
attempting to sale a wheel made of stone and word bubble from the
caveman-customer said, “Sorry, but that’s not how I roll.” I know, it isn’t
very funny but it reminded me of a cool, spring morning turkey hunt with a very
good friend and the fine young man he has for a son.
We arrived early to get in place well before daybreak. Just
as the sun began to show color we noticed a turkey in a tree just a few yards
away and it was a gobbler. We made some alluring hen chatter and within a few
minutes there were five gobblers in the field just within shotgun range. It was
youth season so neither his dad nor I had a shotgun, only the young man was
legal to shoot. I was excited for him, five birds within shooting range, all he
had to do was take his pick and shoot. Now mind you, these birds were young
birds and the beards were not as prominent as an older bird but they were legal
and ready for the grill or frying pan.
Thirty minutes later, the birds walked out of the field, no
shots fired. Once they were gone, I said boy you had five birds out there
within range why didn’t you shoot. He said, “Mr. James those were young birds
and that’s not how we roll, is it dad?” Enough said. So where does the comic
strip fit in, it reminded me of the wonderful time we had on that cool, spring
morning watching the sun’s rays paint the sky brilliant orange and yellow,
listening to the morning wake up with all the nature noises it brings along as
it dawns and having true sportsmanship taught to an old sportsman by a young
whipper-snapper sportsman and the old sportsman liked it and respected the
young man’s position on the matter.
Sometimes, we need to be reminded there is a certain order
in life, sort of a crawl, walk, run approach. More often than not, I want to
skip the crawl, walk and go right to run, but it doesn’t always work that way.
The better approach is to grow through all the steps and keep growing once we
think we’ve learned enough. John Wooden said, “It’s what you learn after you
know it all that counts.” It was true on that cool, spring morning, and it was
true today with something that happened for me, not to me because I am really
grateful for a lesson learned today and am glad I had remembered to remain
teachable.
Jesus taught crawl, walk, run. He had the power to load the
minds of His followers but He didn’t. He taught through parables, relational
stories, in a subtle manner so as not to overwhelm them with information. Each
parable related to a lesson He wanted them to understand. This allowed
His followers to absorb the lesson, practice what they had been taught then go
out and use the information or skills to teach others. In other words, He
planted the seed, cared for it as it grew then once it blossomed in the
follower they were able to share in its beauty with others. Crawl, walk, run,
old sportsman being taught by the young sportsman, sharing knowledge,
experience, life lesson, and so on and so forth, amazingly wonderful.
Our faith, our love, our hope and our joy are similar to
parable teaching because each of these virtues is a gift to us through a story.
We remember when we first experienced love, there is a story behind it,
remember when joy was experienced, a story follows, remember having hope, a
story follows, do you remember when you realized faith was the real deal and
you shared the experience someone? I encourage us to remember, No running
first, let us crawl, walk then run into life always stretching, always growing
always sharing, caring to make a difference and add value to others. Matthew
13:10-13
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