Whatever Happened to Story of the Little Red Hen?

 

Am I just out of the loop or did the children’s story of the “Little Red Hen” just disappear over the last decade or two? The story line is one of reaping and sowing, one that is as applicable today as it was back in the 60's and 70's of my youth, yet it may not be quite as acceptable today as it was when I was a young lad. I'll share the cliff notes version for those that may not be familiar with the story. 

 

The Little Red Hen finds some wheat and decides to plant it, she asks the other animals in the barnyard and nobody offers to help her plant the seed. Then when the wheat grows, the hen once again asks her "friends" for some help gathering the wheat. "Not me" was the resounding response, so the little red hen gathered the wheat by herself. The story continues with the hen getting no help taking the wheat to the mill to be ground, and then back to the farm where once more her plea for help in baking the bread is denied by the cast of the barn lot. When the fresh baked loaves of bread sit cooling and the fresh aroma filled the air, the animals come running for their loaf of the yummy bread. The cow, the pig, the dog, and the horse all ask the little red hen for their loaf of bread to which the hen aptly denies their request. She explained that nobody would help her when she was doing all the work, so they didn't deserve any of the fruits of her labor or in this instance the "bread" of her labor. The lesson I learned from that story, was if you don't work you don't eat! 

 

Today that mentality has been lost to one of “what will you do for me”, regardless of what input the individual makes. A hand up has become a hand out. To many people, the little red hen would be seen as greedy and self-serving. As a society, America has moved to one of entitlement over earning what you receive. That kind of mentality cannot survive, the end result is a few, the little red hens, doing all the work and then the rest of the barn lot receiving their "fair" share just because they live on the farm. Life was not designed to be that way. 

 

In one of my devotions this past week I read a scripture that set the stage for this lesson of reaping and sowing. In Luke 16:10, Jesus exhorts us with this statement "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." There are many ways that this verse could be interpreted, but what connected this verse to my children's fable of the little red hen is this, if we can't be accountable in the small aspects of life such as planting the seed, tilling the soil, gathering the wheat, grounding the meal, and baking the bread, then how is it that we should reap the benefits of eating the bread. Apply that anywhere you want to in life, but I believe the message is made completely clear in the following words from Paul to the church in Galatia, "Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return." Galatians 6:7.  

 

In everything we do God wants our best efforts to be a testament to our service to Him. Colossians 3:23 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, "whatever you do, do it as if you were doing it for God and not man".  Do your part, do more than your part, God gave His only Son for you and I, shouldn't we at least be willing to plant some seeds? Jesus said if you are faithful in the small things then you can be used in the big things of this life. We each have “things” God has planned for us to do to expand His Kingdom. If you have not found your “why” in life yet seek it. Seek God through a relationship, a relationship that is built over time and effort. Time and effort are a choice, and you my friend get to choose. Sounds a little like the story of the Little Red Hen to me?

 

Coach Carter

Mountain Climber

I know the game show "The Price is Right" is still out there on some channel, but I've been reminiscing about the original show with Bob Barker and crew that aired back in the 70's & 80's. I know, just another signal that I'm old, when you start talking about things that the majority of your readers don't know what you are talking about, you have entered the "getting old zone". Yet, I digress. Celebrity game show host Bob Barker presented contestants and the television audience with so many suspenseful prize-winning games and I assume many of those including the money wheel still exist. The game that sticks in my head the most was one where a yodeling mountain climber trekked up the mountain based on the difference in a guess and actual price of an item. If the guess was off too much the yodeler toppled off the mountain before reaching their menagerie of prizes. In life we all are climbing a mountain, but in contrast to the game show climber, our confidence as we climb is not based on a guess, we have an assurance of our destination and our ultimate prize. 

 

No secrets today, this message has one sole purpose, encouragement for those who feel like the mountain in front of them is too hard to climb and it just doesn't feel like it is worth the effort. Let me assure you it is. Your journey up the mountain may be challenging, it may be hard, it may even seem like at times it is insurmountable, but you have to keep climbing. One hand over the other, one step forward and possibly ten steps back, yet we must journey on. Ever looking upward towards our goal, never giving space to the notion of quitting because that isn't what mountain climbers do, their purpose is to reach the top and that my friend is where the mountain of God is always calling you. Onward and upward, one step, two steps, three...

 

A couple of things to keep in mind as you face that mountain in your path forward. First, as singer, songwriter Mac Powell from the band Third Day dutifully sings it, "...you must go through the valley to stand upon the mountain of God!" We all have to start somewhere and, in many cases, we find ourselves at the bottom of the mountain, in the valley. We may not have started in a valley, but circumstances and situations happen and there we are at the bottom looking up towards the mountain peak that almost appears to be unobtainable. Climb on. Strap up your boots, buckle down your backpack, and tighten up your belt. You've got some traversing to do. 

 

Second thing to remember is, there are loose rocks, slippery slopes, and deep crevasses along the way. No reason to turn back. Anyone who has climbed a mountain before you had to endure and encompass similar potential hazards as they scaled upwards towards their pinnacle. Why should your journey be any different? Did someone along the way promise you that life would be easy? Did your parents make your childhood a paved road journey and just as life seemed like everything was going your way, kaboom, you tumbled down the side of your mountain much like a snowball picking up momentum and size as it's trajectory heads south? Maybe you've been climbing mountains your whole life, maybe life just didn't deal you a fair hand. Is that you? Well, life may be tough, but I promise you this, God created each of us with a purpose in mind. Each person was created with a mountain to climb, some of us with many more mountains than others, and some of us with much steeper mountains than those that live right there with us or beside us. Journey on, whatever mountain you have to climb, the view at the top of that mountain is worth every ounce of energy and effort that it takes to scale upward towards the top. 

 

Lastly, you are not climbing that mountain alone. The God who made you, is the same God that is going with you along your journey towards the top of that mountain standing in your path. I almost wrote standing in your way, but I want to suggest that your mountain may very well be your journey in life. Others are watching you, some are depending on you, what are you going to do, give up and quit? No, we journey on and continue to scale upward because that is exactly what you were created to do! God made man in His own image, (Genesis 1:27) and we know that God doesn't quit when our life gets tough. Through God we actually gain the strength and courage to carry on and continually trek upward. We have this promise, "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Deuteronomy 31:8. Forward and upward, that is where you are headed today, yesterday, and tomorrow! Climb on. 

 

The yodeling mountain climber on Barker's "Price is Right" show sings his way upward as he marches towards the peak of that game’s mountain. We praise God for not only the mountain top where we are all striving to reach each day, but we must give Him thanks for the valleys, the crevasses, and any other barrier that stands between us and the mountain top with God. The journey may be hard, it may be challenging, and it may even feel like it is too much to overcome, but I challenge you today to trust God's plan for your life. Whether you know His plan or if you haven't heard from God in years, know this. God will not allow you to walk alone. He walks alongside you each and every day. Praise God for the valleys, the slippery slopes, and the peaks that appear insurmountable. I will journey forward and I will reach the top of His mountain! Amen

 

Coach Carter

 

Thankful for the Scars

The Christian band I Am They, have a song out entitled "Scars", which speaks to me on two different levels. When I first heard the song, I thought the writer was giving thanks to our Father in Heaven for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. What an example for us to live by, sacrificing self for the sake of others. The chain of events that occurred in Jesus's death and resurrection provided us with a path to our own eternal salvation. Jesus's willingness to be condemned to die on a criminal's cross, created that pathway for each of us. Most definitely, I am thankful for His nail scarred hands. So, on a first listen, that was the message I received. We will never be able to repay Jesus for those scars, yet He wants us to live out a life of sacrifice that is modeled by the example Jesus gave us through the life He lived, and the enduring commitment that He exhibited in death on the cross. The more I listened to the song, and the more I became familiar with the full lyrics of the song, the deeper message became clear to me and that is what I want to share today. 

Each of us has endured painful life experiences, failure, death, heartbreak, and disappointment would be broad buckets where most of us could drop our hurts. Enduring those painful experiences is what leads us to creating our own "scars" in life. The pain of a divorce will never be totally forgotten, because the two individuals made a commitment to love one another forever, when that promise is broken it takes time for the hurt to heal over and eventually become a scar. The untimely loss of a loved one creates a deep wound that we would not want to wish on anyone, yet over time that loss can become easier to deal with, signaling that a scar is being established where previously an open wound existed. Pain and sorrow are not unique to a small select group, we each face adversity and affliction. Tragedy and hurts happen without warning, yet we are not alone in our pain. The Great Physician is there with you and He offers healing for our hurts and wounds. God doesn't promise that we will never face adversity, actually the opposite is true, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. What God does promise is that we will never face our tribulations alone. "But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26.

As we learn to seek comfort through prayer, mediation, and spending time with God the Physician we begin to understand that we have never been alone in our hardships and tribulations. In our hurt, Jesus, becomes our Healer. His example of the life He lived, the peace that the Holy Spirit evokes, and the comforting truth that we are not facing this life alone, allow us to gain strength and confidence to walk forward. We get knocked down and skin our knees, but the strength that we gain through our relationship with God, allows us to get back up, dust ourselves off, and allow God's plan to create scars where a wound once existed.

I believe that is the deeper message that the song "Scars" wants to share. We will forever be indebted to Christ for the gift we did not deserve, but just as the wounds He endured for each of us serve now as a reminder of that sacrifice in the form of a scar, we too can be thankful for the scars we can point out in our own lives. "I am thankful for my scars, because without them I wouldn't know Your heart". Every hurt that we have endured has left a scar, but that scar is our reminder that we were never alone during even the most painful moments. That is why we can point to those scars and say "Thank You God!"

Today you have a choice, you can decide to be bitter and blame God for your pains and sufferings, or you can look to God and say I'm thankful for the scars of yesterday, and I am trusting in You today to take the wounds of today and turn those into the scars of tomorrow. Are you at a place in your life that you can thank God for the not so good times as much as your times of joy? For me, I am thankful for the scars that tell me who He is and what He has done and continues to do for me each day! 

Coach Carter

Maintenance Check Up

 

My wife and I recently purchased a "new" car, at least it is new to us, and one of the features that helped drive our decision was the extended warranty. Basically, as long as we perform the required maintenance program our new, not so new, car would be covered mechanically for up to 100,000 miles. That impressed us. Other companies go even further and offer a lifetime warranty, but that carries with it a much more detailed and extensive list of the "what has to be maintained" to maintain a lifetime warranty. We opted for the extended warranty in this case and have been delighted with our, her, new car. Those of you that are married out there understand what I mean about the ownership of said automobile! 

 When we take our car in for a maintenance check-up we trust that the mechanic has the skills, training, and expertise to assure our automobile is running properly. The mechanic, we assume, will fix what is in need of maintenance, and if parts or fluids need to be replenished or replaced we expect the mechanic will make the appropriate recommendations and then perform the necessary procedures upon our approval. 

 Why do we go to the trouble of keeping up with a maintenance plan on our vehicles? Besides the matter of getting that “peace of mind” feeling having an extended warranty on our automobile provides, we follow the suggested maintenance schedule so we can keep our vehicles on the road. The best chance for us to have safe travels and to not be stuck on the side of the road with a broke down car centers around maintaining our car's engine and other mechanical parts.

 I believe it is safe to assume that everyone agrees maintenance on your vehicle of choice is an essential and necessary aspect of owning a car. But, what about the maintenance check-up on our own personal life? Are we just as convinced that we need to be performing regular maintenance on how we are living our spiritual lives, and what areas of our life need some attention, possibly even a part removed or replenished? Fortunately for us, we have the perfect mechanic who we can turn to for a check-up, and receive a diagnostic analysis without ever spending a penny on the necessary maintenance we need to perform.

 God is the Great Physician or in this analogy the Great Mechanic. We should be scheduling daily check-ins and check-ups to see how our life's motor is working. The maintenance manual for our walk with God is easily accessible and should be followed daily. We read God's word for guidance on what we need to be doing and the "how to" examples that are provided by the heroes and saints of the Bible. We were created by God on purpose for a purpose, so it is our responsibility to stay in tune with what our purpose is and whether or not we are keeping in tune with that will. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life." Ephesians 2:10. If we find that our motor needs an adjustment then we are never closer to a mechanic than we are to our Creator and Father in Heaven, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalm 51:10.

 It isn't advisable or practical to drive your vehicle and never follow through on keeping the maintenance schedule in order, regardless of any extended warranty or lifetime warranty. If we want to live eternally with our Savior in Heaven then we need to follow His owner's manual on a regular daily schedule. We don't wait until we have a breakdown on the road before we take our car in for maintenance, why would we wait until we have a personal breakdown before we come to meet with our Lord and Savior? The good news is our maintenance plan is simple; faith, sacrifice, service, and above all love! Our job is to assure that we are sacrificing without seeking to gain, serving others because God sent His only Son to serve mankind, and to love unconditionally. Shouldn't we be doing the same things? There’s no better time than today to perform your maintenance check-up.

 

Coach Carter

 

Don't Worry

Chances are you may have heard the song "Three Little Birds" by Reggae legend Bob Marley, you may not recognize the song by its title but nevertheless the song is a staple for beach bands and tourist audiences. Lots of folks that are familiar with the song, but aren't a Marley or Reggae fan, may have thought the title was something like "Don't Worry" or "Don't Worry About a Ting". You may have even thought the title could be "Everything is Going to Be Alright". Instead Marley gave us a simple song title with a simple message, yet a message containing advice that many of us are not able to follow. 

"Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be alright", easier said than done right? How often are you part of a conversation where either the person you are chatting with or possibly you yourself bring up a subject that is causing you worry and stress? Maybe it's a health-related matter, or possibly a financial issue that is laying heavy on your mind. Worrisome matters could range from relationships, career, or family issues that are troubling your daily productivity. It doesn't really matter what the worry is, the crux of the matter is what are you gaining by sitting around idly worrying? Unfortunately, whatever is weighing heavy on your mind won't get better just because you are spending your precious time worrying about the matter, hoping it will be remedied, frozen by fear and uncertainty. 

 

For myself I practice what I like to describe as "active waiting". On the surface those two words don't sound like they go together, but I would contend that if you adhere to the Biblical principle of faith, waiting on God to answer your prayers isn't characterized by you sitting around waiting for God to solve all your problems and cure all your diseases. "Active" waiting basically means that while we are in the midst of something that is uncomfortable we move forward with confidence and an assurance that, yes, every little thing is going to be alright. Actively waiting on God to guide us through our life's circumstances means we aren't sitting around worrying about the present condition of our lives. In the Gospel of Matthew 6:27 Jesus questions us with, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Instead of living in gloom and doom worrying about our current situation, we need to believe that God is at work in us and will be working through us. If we can adhere to that understanding then we move from someone stuck in the mud to someone that makes bricks out of the mud we have been given. Those bricks become the foundation of who God wants us to be through Him. 

 

Active waiting is not sitting back waiting on God to make right what is wrong in our lives today. You may be in the midst of a battle for your health, God doesn't say just sit back and I'll take care of everything. Instead he implores us to go out and bravely face the day and allow God to work through us for the benefit of others that need to see God. You may be stuck in a situation that you had no influence or part in happening, but God can use that situation to take you to the place He needs you to be. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. “Jeremiah 17:7-8. Trust is the determining factor. Trusting in God builds faith and faith will not fail because we believe that whatever happens to us is nothing compared to what God is doing through us (Philippians 2:13).  

 

As we close today's thought may I impress upon you that I am not proposing that if we only believe then our struggles in this life will all disappear. Rather, my prayer is that by trusting that God is in control of all things, He will be with you and your trust is that whatever we are going through may very well be for the benefit of someone other than self. Jesus shared this comforting word with His disciples in John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid". Jesus didn't say He would snap His fingers and everything will be fine. Jesus promises peace unlike anything this world can know. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7. This is the peace that God offers you and He offers it to me. Trust in God, lay down your burdens and allow Him to calm your weary mind. It may be tough to say it and firmly believe it, yet it is true. "Every little thing is gonna be alright!"

 

Coach Carter