Training as a Draft Horse Teamster - The Greater Purpose in Suffering - Part III

This is the third and last article in a series about my getting hurt while working with our draft horses.

When we suffer any kind of trial or sorrow we must consider:

• Do I proclaim my lack of faith to the World by feeling sorry for myself, complaining, blaming, reacting negatively or responding harshly when I suffer? Do I attempt to pray it away?
• Or like Paul and Timothy, do I consider it pure joy when I face trails (James 1:2-8, 12) and rejoice in my suffering, proclaiming to the World that I trust and honor Father (1 Peter 1:6-9) in all things:

In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We live close to death, but we are still alive. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).

In the face of the cross, Jesus said, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will (Mark 14:36). Obviously, it was not the Father’s will that Jesus be rescued from suffering. Instead, the Father’s will was and still is that we be “delivered from this present wicked World.” This isn’t to say that we will be removed from the World. Rather, as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus we are delivered from responding in ways that reflect the darkness of it.

When we respond to trials and sorrows in faithfulness to the Father and His ways

we continue to overcome the rulers, powers and principalities

of this place and system of suffering.

(Ephesians 6:12)!

So… what happened that caused our horses to be so confused? I was taught to always stand behind the implement in order to prevent getting trapped between it and the horses. I did this. I was also taught to fasten the reins to the implement in order to give the horses a sense of tension so that they don’t pull ahead until I am ready. I did this. What I wasn’t aware of is; if I don’t leave a bit of slack in the reins when I fasten them and begin to mount the implement, my weight on the back of the implement will pull the reins more tautly, signaling to the horses that I want them to back up! Not doing so lead to suffering!

While scripture tells us, if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well (James 3:1-3), it never directs us to steer clear of suffering by attempting to live righteously! The reality is… we don’t have such power over the reins in our lives! Thinking that we do just might get us plowed over!

It never entered my mind that this event was a result of how unrighteous I might be. If suffering was dished out according to how righteous we are, we’d all be burning in hell! What I did consider however is this, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). My greatest desire in all of this was to boast of the things which show my weakness (2 Corinthians 11:30) because I knew that in my weakness my Lord’s power was being demonstrated!

In my weakness I was reminded, “There is only One Who reigns over all” and I wanted to proclaim this to anyone who asked me, “What happened?”

Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie

P.S. Please feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/. You may also contact me at:
Bonnie Jaeckle
In Search of the Whole-Hearted Life
Diagonal Progress
505 Jefferson St.

Training as a Draft Horse Teamster - The Greater Purpose in Suffering - Part II

Last week I shared a story about getting hurt while discing with our draft horses. Some people’s conclusions about what went wrong were quite interesting. One deduction in particular stands out in my mind: “You must not be living right”!

Do only good things happen to those who are “living right”? If so, how do we explain Jesus’ warning to His followers, In the World you will have trials and sorrows; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the World (John 16:33). He never mentions that our trials will be matched according to how we live! Instead, He tells us that the World is a place and system of suffering. We are to expect trials and sorrows as elements of living in the World.

If afflictions are dished out according to how “wrong” a person is living, how would we explain Apostle Paul’s suffering?

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).

Would we warn him, “Paul, my dear brother, you must be living wrong or God would feed, clothe and protect you. You’ve got to get it right, Paul or you’re a dead man!”

What about Jesus? He was beaten so badly that his appearance was… marred beyond human likeness (Isaiah 52:14b) and was crucified unto death (John19:30). Would we pity him saying, “Holy cow, Jesus! You must have been living wrong to be facing the ultimate trial! I guess it is too late to get your life in order so that you can skirt around this crucifixion!”

We are minimizing the sacrifice of Jesus,
if we don’t understand and demonstrate the greater purpose for suffering, including death:
…that he might deliver us from this present wicked world…
(Galatians 1:4).

This deliverance isn’t a down the road reward for “good” behavior! It is a here and now victory! Walking in the footsteps of Jesus, we are also to be overcomers of this World (Romans 8:37); today. It isn’t about how much or how often we suffer that communicates anything of importance. It is about how we respond to suffering that speaks loudly of Whom we are made.


Stay tuned next week for the conclusion of this series.


Whole-Heartedly,
Bonnie

P.S. Please feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/. You may also contact me at:
Bonnie Jaeckle
In Search of the Whole-Hearted Life
Diagonal Progress
505 Jefferson St.
Diagonal, IA 50845

Training as a Draft Horse Teamster - The Greater Purpose of Suffering

The first day of the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive at Marigold Meadows was quite an adventure! Excited about having the opportunity to drive our horses, Gary and I were having great fun discing the field in preparation for other teams to plow. I can’t even begin to describe how it feels to be a draft horse teamster. Ponyo and Nettie were responding well and seemed to enjoy the work as much as Gary and I.

After giving our horses a break from the labor, we decided it was time to return to the field. We hooked Ponyo and Nettie to the disc, double checked that we’d followed all that we’d been taught and I began to climb up on the disc. Having one foot on the implement and the other on the ground, the horses began to backup! My foot got trapped under the disc and the pressure of the moving implement pushed me down. The next thing I know, I’m lying on the ground with both legs caught under the disc!

While I certainly wasn’t comfortable, I was screaming, not so much from the pain, but in an attempt to get the attention of someone to help. Needless to say, Gary and the horses were frightened. Gary couldn’t leave the head of the horses in order to help me or we could have had worse problems. He was frantically attempting to get the horses to move forward in order to get the implement off of my legs. I feared that this would result in slicing my legs to pieces. Instead, the disc was inching further up my legs causing more and more twisting and crushing injury. While it was likely only a few minutes before helped arrived, it seemed to take forever.

It’s amazing what goes through a person’s mind in such a predicament! While my life could have been taken within seconds:

• I was concerned for Gary.

• I feared that I had let my brother down by not following his instructions in some way.

• I wanted to learn from what had gone wrong and was pondering the possibilities.

• I felt badly for the horses who were so confused.

• I didn’t want to frighten the visitors at Marigold Meadows.

• I was concerned about my sister-in-law’s camera which was in my pocket.

For a split second, I imagined the horses backing the disc and themselves right over the top of me!

The thought left me as quickly as it came.

I knew what I needed.

I had to get someone’s attention who could lift the thing off of me!

I went back to screaming for help and within a few minutes I was rescued.

What in the world went wrong? Stay tuned for next weeks article.

Whole-Heartedly,

Bonnie

P.S. Please feel free to contact me with questions, thoughts, topics you’d like to ponder or to read past articles at: http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/">http://whole-heartedlife.blogspot.com/
>. You may also contact me at:

Bonnie Jaeckle

In Search of the Whole-Hearted Life

Diagonal Progress

505 Jefferson St.

Diagonal, IA 50845