COWBOY UP!

I attended my first bull riding event while in college.  I was so taken by the event that soon after I went out and purchased a cowboy hat.  Maybe it was the Oklahoma backdrop, maybe it was a calling, or maybe it was bad take-out, but instantly I knew I thought I wanted to be a cowboy.  I even went out and purchased a few old western and rodeo movies so I could work on my strut and my “howdy ma’am.”  But it was while watching 8 Seconds, the story of bull rider Lane Frost, where I first heard the term “Cowboy up.”  And it wasn’t just thrown in the movie casually.  The words followed a moment where Lane had been bucked off his bull and then stepped on in his sensitive areas by the bull.  As he was in the doctor’s tent, ready to give up, his friend came in and told him that it was time to “Cowboy up.”

Let me just say, I think these are the same words God is speaking to His people.  "Cowboy Up!"  Too many times we have gotten on the bull only to be thrown off.  Too many times we have not lasted the eight seconds needed to complete our event.  And too many times we have been sitting around, injured, wallowing in pain and offense, and ready to give up.  But this is not the time to give up; it is the time to cowboy up!  This is the time to get back on the bull, to strap ourselves in tighter and hug that bull with our legs a little firmer.  This is the time to use the pain given by the enemy to outlast the enemy.  What am I really talking about here?  I am talking about Christians who have been called to something big, who have gotten knocked off, and who have given up.

I have personally seen this.  I have seen a man I admire greatly who at first got on the bull and came out matching the jerks and contortions of the bull.  But one zig instead of a zag in his ministry and he was bucked off before the timer sounded.  Early on God had given him a mission, a calling, a vision for his life, and he saw that bigger picture.  I saw him doing his cowboy strut as he walked in relationship with God.  I watched as he began to take on a pilgrimage with God, in essence learning the tricks of the trade for his spiritual bull ride.  And then the day came when he finally got on the bull only to be thrown off.  Even to this day, he suffers from being bucked off, wallows in what could have been, and blames God for his defeat.  Instead of cowboy-ing up to ride that bull again, he has given up.

Far too many believers have allowed this to happen.  Far too many have forsaken the purpose God has given to them, allowing defeat to define them instead of getting back up on that bull.  I recall the words of Jesus in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  

Moses had a bull named “Speech Problem,” yet with God’s help he rode it.  David had a bull named “Goliath,” but he too was ridden.  Jesus even had a bull named “Death and Hades,” and it too was defeated.  Yet too many bulls have won because the cowboys have given up.  Solomon is an example of such.  He started riding that bull with the trophy in sight only to loosen his grip and be bucked off.  The bull "Woman" won in his case.  And the tag-team riders Adam and Eve were doing well until the bull "Serpent" reared his ugly head and the two landed in the dust.  But before you and I become another statistic of those who give up we must determine in our spirits to cowboy up.

I pray that you see the bull as a challenge to defeat and not run from.  I pray that you see the mission God has for you as an adventure, as something you cannot do alone.  Know that there will be times when the bull will buck you off, and why not?  The enemy doesn’t want you to hold that trophy up high as the winner.  But with God you can do all things for you are more than a conqueror.  Are you afraid to ride?  Then cowboy up!  Have you been knocked off the bull?  Then cowboy up!  Have you been stepped on by the bull?  Then cowboy up!  This is the time when we get on that bull and ride for our eight seconds.  This is the time to cowboy up! (and that ain’t no bull).

Yeehaw! Ride ‘em Cowboy!