THE BITIN' SOW PRINCIPLE

Howdy-do gang....are you about to give up? I've got one word...DON'T...or is that really two words rolled into one...(1) Do (2) Not?

The Reverend Dan Smith has an album called JUST KEEP GOIN' ON. He is a black preacher/bluesman...who grew up son of a poor dirt farmer...who knew what it meant to keep your faith focused and never give up...on the Lord. He was well acquainted with adversity, troubles, hard times...and was prolific in his music about how to deal with STUFF. "Take every knock as a boots...every stumbling block as a stepping stone...lift up your head...and hold your own...just keep goin' on."

To put it in layman's terms...."Ya gotta hang in there like a bitin' sow." Take a close look into the eyes of this Mamma Sow. Do you think that if you came between her and her piglets.. that you would stand a fighting chance. She would come after you...latch onto your arm or leg...and clamp down and would not let go until you either made her bacon or hamhock.

What are you going through in your life now...that has got you on the verge of throwing in the towel...throwing up your hands in surrender....yielding to the pressure. As Winston Churchill states...NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!

Jacob wrestled an angel of God ALL NIGHT LONG...for a blessing...to the point of having his hip thrown out of joint...BUT in his tenacity...he got his blessing along with a name change and a heritage that stretches far into the time-space continnum and around the world...as the Savior of the world...enters into our world.

Sometimes we gotta be like the frog who is holding on for dear life around the startled storks neck.

The paradox of the matter is...that in the kingdom...we have to surrender to get. We have to yield to receive. We have to fall to the ground as a grain of wheat and die before the harvest is manifested. But in the things of God...in our stance of faith...in matters of doing good, and loving the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength...we may become weary in well doing in relation to sowing to the Spirit and reaping eternal life from the Spirit but here's Paul's encouragement..."And let us NOT LOSE HEART in DOING GOOD...for in DUE TIME we shall REAP...if we DO NOT GROW WEARY." (Galatians 6:9)

God is known as the God of 11:59...just before the final click to 12:00... the answer that we need may not appear...but God is not late. It's like you are walking along...for blocks and blocks...and you come to a corner...but just before you turn...you give up and turn around...BUT if you had just turned the corner...there is your answer.

Back in the 70's there was a coffeehouse called KOINONIA (sharing life in the Son)...where there was this folk-rock band called Dogwood.
One of the songs that they sang was KEEP ON WALKIN'...and it goes a little something like this:

Are you weary in well doing
Walkin' on the road to New Jerusalem
Are you hopin' and a prayin'
Lookin' any minute for the Lord to come

And do you see a lot of pleasant lookin' places
Where you might lay down and take a rest
If you do...take a look at all the faces there
And the sadness will tell you that it's best

To KEEP ON WALKIN'
You don't know how far you've come
KEEP ON WALKIN'
For all you know that it may done
And the Father is standing up right now...to give the call
And end it all
KEEP ON WAAAALKIN'

I know that it would sound better with music...so ask me to sing it for you the next time you see me...BUT...you get the idea.

If you are faced with the impossible...visualize your dreams, your prayers, your goals, your desires...as your little piglets...and anything that is getting you your way...CHOMP, CHOMP...and HANG IN THERE, LIKE A BITIN' SOW.

Love and Tenacious Kisses
Rod "Oink Oink" Boyd