My friend, Carl, had a Holstein bull named Isaiah. He must have been a cute, gentle little guy to be given such a wonderful name. Isaiah means “the Lord is Salvation”. As this young bull named Isaiah grew, it became very evident that his name didn’t fit his personality. Lucifer would have been more fitting. He was ornery, mean and downright vicious.
One day, as I was leaving for the airport with two other people in the car, we saw Isaiah had broken out of his pen. He was in the neighbor’s front yard rubbing his head on a tree. It was a hard maple tree about 12 inches in diameter. He had it bent over to point of snapping. The neighbors, who owned the yard and tree, were locked in their house with their faces pressed up to the windows. They looked as frightened as someone might look experiencing a zombie attack.
I pulled the car over on the opposite side of road, waiting for Carl, who had been alerted of the situation. Carl and Mike, who worked on the farm, arrived in the farm’s flatbed Chevy pickup truck. Mike was behind the wheel and drove very slowly past Isaiah as he and Carl analyzed the situation. They turned around in the neighbors driveway and drove back past the bull about 30 or 40 yards and pulled off onto the side of the road. By now a couple of more cars had stopped to see what was happening. Carl got out of the truck while Mike stayed behind the steering wheel. That’s when the action began.
Carl had a lead rope in his hands which had a snap hook on the end. He readied himself by holding the snap hook open with his thumb while the bulk of the lead rope was in his other hand. Isaiah was still rubbing his head on the tree facing away from road. Carl quietly snuck up behind the bull and gave him a tap on his rear end. This caused Isaiah to spin around faster than a kitchen blender and he was immediately in seek and destroy mode. Then, with precision timing, Carl snapped the hook on the lead rope to the ring in Isaiah’s nose. The gathered audience was in awe. We’d never seen anything like it.
Just imagine having a contest at a rodeo in which volunteer participants walk up behind a mean bull, tap it on the rear end and see if they are able to snap a clip onto the bull’s nose ring. Either there’d be no takers or a lot of 911 calls.
Whether it was experience, finesse or just pure luck, I don’t really know. Experience told Carl the bull would spin around counterclockwise. Finesse, courage, focus and timing were all required to get that snap hook onto the nose ring. I’m not a big believer in luck, but it seems it was good fortune because Carl wasn’t going to be allowed a second try.
Isaiah knew that fighting back would cause nothing but pain in his snout. Therefore he began following behind Carl, toward the truck, with the demeanor of an obedient pet lamb.
I’ll never forget how proud Carl looked knowing his audience was dumbfounded. He was cool as a cucumber and strutting like a peacock as he guided Isaiah toward the truck. And who could blame him? We were all ready to leap out of our vehicles and give him a standing ovation!
However, we also know that pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). It didn’t take long for the tables to turn on Carl. Suddenly the bull must have gotten the feeling in his sensitive nostrils that Carl was no longer holding the lead rope tightly. Isaiah jerked his head back and the rope slipped right out of Carl’s hand. Isaiah immediately knew he was free and so did Carl. In a split second Isaiah was back to seek and destroy mode with Carl as his target!
Isaiah had his head down and was charging Carl with every bit of blood, muscle and bone in his larger than life frame. Having a perfect side view, I saw what I thought only happens in fictional cartoons. Carl was running as fast as he could for the truck with his back arched. Isaiah’s head was right there in the arch of Carl’s back. In those few seconds I believe Carl could have beaten Usain Bolt to the finish line.
Have you ever noticed how time seems to slow down when you’re witnessing something terrifying? Well time slowed down over the next few seconds, as we witnessed greater acrobatics than I’ve ever seen watching Olympic gymnastic competitions. In my opinion, Carl scored all Tens for his improvisational routine.
With what one might call an “about to die forward leap for life” Carl was just barely able to outrun Isaiah and belly flop onto the flatbed of the truck landing in a total spread eagle position. Isaiah, right on his tail, came up under the bumper and tossed the back of the truck up into the air causing the rear tires to be easily three feet or higher off the ground.
The show wasn’t over. To our absolute amazement, Carl redeemed himself.
At the same time the truck came bouncing back down to the ground, Carl, still on his stomach, spun himself around on the truck bed, reached out one arm and snagged the lead rope! Carl was back in control and Isaiah was once again as gentle as a lamb.
Carl sat on the back of the truck, with his feet dangling, this time gripping the rope tightly, as Mike very slowly drove back to the barnyard with Isaiah walking behind.
Naturally a crazy story like this provides me with a few spiritual comparisons. Of course first is the pride that was evident but didn’t last too long. Unfortunately, for some people their pride lasts their entire life. Proud of their knowledge, bragging about their wonderful accomplishments, and pointing to what they’ve acquired. They live with a look at me attitude. In contrast the Bible calls us to live out a life of humility. This means having a sane perspective of self. Romans 12:3 says “Do not think you are better than you are.” Comparing ourselves to Jesus will always humble our viewpoint. We might be able to accomplish some big stuff, like maybe even taming a bull. We need to remember without Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5).
Then we saw that Carl made the mistake of loosening his grip on the rope for just a few seconds. Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise”. This world is begging for our attention. We cannot lose focus for a moment. Letting go will most likely get us into some sort of trouble.
Then we see that death can easily be compared to a mad bull chasing us down. Isaiah didn’t quite catch up to Carl that day, but death will catch up to all of us and it will level the playing field. When you and I stand before God there will be only one thing that makes a difference. That is…what we did with Jesus. Like Carl that day, sometimes we can redeem ourselves in bad situations. But in the end it’s only Jesus who has done what was needed to redeem us forever.
Job 19:25 “I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.”
I’m sure thankful that when it comes to eternity we don’t have to redeem ourselves. We have a Savior who did that for us. He went to the cross, gave Himself for our sins, rose out of the grave, hooked death by its nose ring and said “No more victory death, I’m holding the rope”.
