Beech Tree News Network

My brother told me about a conversation he had with a friend.  The friend had several children but was close to only one.  He justified his favoritism by saying, “We share the same interests.”  My brother told him, “If you love a child, you get interested in the things they are interested in, whether you are interested in those things or not.”  My brother is right.  Love is all about going out of your way.

The title of my latest read is, HOW TO PLAY DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, a complete step by step guide for beginners.  I’m reading this book, because my son-in-law is bringing his entire D&D setup for my granddaughter, Sabria, during his and my daughter, Nikki’s, Christmas visit.  They need a fourth player.  I’m it, and I’m a bit worried.  It’s not that I’m not interested, it’s that I have a hard time with strategy games.  I like games where mostly luck is involved.  Luck isn’t confusing.  It just is or it isn’t.  I’m reading the how-to book, so I won’t be a drag on the game.

I know you have done the same sorts of things.  You’ve gone on roller coasters that have scared you into next week, because your child or grandchild or niece or nephew didn’t have anybody else to ride with them.  You’ve hiked trails, watched movies, and gone to sporting events you wouldn’t ordinarily have involved yourself in.  You’ve listened to music that you couldn’t understand the words to, engaged in conversations about people you never have or never will meet, and you’ve shopped at places like Hot Topic, where the store clerks are so Goth they might actually be dead.  I’ve seen people like you and me at all those places.  People who leave their comfort zones and become somebody else for someone they love.

In the movie, “City Slickers,” three friends, Mitch (Billy Crystal), Ed (Bruno Kirby), and Phil (Daniel Stern) decide to take their vacations together on a dude ranch.  After arriving, the three learn how to dress like cowboys, ride horses like cowboys, and spit like cowboys.  They set out on a long cattle drive, with seasoned cow hands in charge.  The real cowboys are supposed to take care of any problems the group should encounter on the cattle drive.  Along the way, the trail boss dies, and the cow hands take off, leaving the three friends, who, until this trip, have never seen a cow in person, in charge.  Ed insists on continuing with the cattle drive and bringing in the herd.  A very frustrated Mitch says to Ed, “You’re not a cowboy!”  To which Mitch replies, “I am today.”  They bring in the herd.

“I am today” has been a recurring theme in most of our lives.  Recently, I was listening to a Sunday school lesson on Moses.  He had to become someone he wasn’t, in order to rescue a whole lot of people he didn’t know, for someone else…God.  The Sunday school teacher made the point that Moses was a murderer, but he was still chosen for the task.  For those of you who don’t know the origin story of Moses, it’s important to know that he was born a Hebrew, but he was raised as an Egyptian by Pharoah’s daughter, who found him in the Nile River in a basket.  He was put into the basket by his biological mother in an attempt to save his life.  After he was grown, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man, and he killed the Egyptian.  There was a witness, so Moses fled the scene, running all the way to the land of Midian.  

It was while he was on a mountain side, in Midian, tending sheep that God gave Moses the news that he was the man for the job.  The job was leading the Hebrew people out of the land of Egypt and into the Promised Land.  Moses said what most of us would say if chosen for that job.  “Why me?”  What’s interesting is God didn’t answer that question directly.  I would have.  I would have said, “Think about it, Moses, you were born a Hebrew and raised an Egyptian.  You have a foot in both worlds.  You’re the perfect man for the job!”  God didn’t say that, because God is smarter than I am.  God said simply, “…I will be with you…” (Exodus, chapter 3).

  Most of the time, when I have to step into the role of someone I’m not, it is not a job I am uniquely qualified for.  I am just willing to do it for someone I care about, and it really helps to know that, because I am willing, God will be with me.