A rider no one knew from Colorado entered a bull riding in Georgia for the Saturday night performance out of a Friday and Saturday show. He managed to get there a day early, his equipment still with a car load of other riders who had broken down somewhere in Florida.

The bull riding came up short on riders that night and they were looking for people willing to ride exhibition, meaning they’d get no money, just experience.

This young man stepped up and volunteered but would need to borrow equipment, drawing one of the rankest bulls in the pen; not the kind of bull you want to ride without equipment.

No one, not even the more mature believers among the riders, would step up in return and let him borrow so much as a bull rope, a vital tool to be safe, never mind stand a chance of riding well.

Instead, he got on that bull with his hand in a flank rope, without a glove and without spurs.

A flank rope is just a small rope, barely enough to get a grip on compared to a bull rope with a handle and a glove that gets rosined to increase the grip. Spurs also help to get a grip.

This rider, instead, had to rely strictly on his own physical strength and his faith in God to get him through, praying before he rode, barehanded.

Anyone familiar with the sport understands he rode at great risk to himself and, anyone who knew the bull he got on, knew he was in danger.

There are two Christian illustrations at work here in this situation: the dangers of being unequipped and the need to help others.

The dangers of being unprepared

Getting on a bull without a bull rope for a non-Christian is like a non-believer trying to live life without Christ.

You’re missing everything you need to live a better life and you’re missing the security of being able to know where you’re going after this world. Anyone who accepts Christ later in life will describe to you a hole that nothing else in their lives could fill until after they entered relationship with Christ.

Getting on a bull without a bull rope for a Christian is like trying to live life without knowing more than a little of what’s in the Bible. You can get through it, but there’s a lot more risks and danger.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

It’s so important for us to understand what is in the Bible to be able to grow in our relationship with Christ but also to be able to grow away from our sin.

Much of our transformation comes from the Holy Spirit leading us from within but so much of it also comes from our understanding of the Scriptures. God can speak to us through Scripture and he can transform our lives through it. It’s through our own transformed lives, we can be used by God to help transform others.

It’s the Scriptures that Paul is telling Timothy are going to equip him for every good work; every good thing God can use him to do. Without understanding the Bible, we’re going to be as unequipped to carry out the works God would have us do as we are trying to ride a bull without a bull rope.

And there’s also danger out there. Paul soon after in his letter to Timothy warns Timothy that there will be others out there drawing people away from Christian teaching by giving them messages they want to hear, things that make them feel good or that seem easier than Scripture. He warns against teachings that will lead them away from Christ and the forgiveness and salvation he gives.

These false teachings are everywhere today and are fueled by a movement that wants to be accepting of everything and all beliefs. They will tell you the Bible is irrelevant to today’s culture yet it’s even more relevant now as Paul warns us of this kind of thinking. When we don’t have God’s word helping us, equipping us for life in this world, our faith is at risk from this misguided thinking combined with our own, instinctive desires and nature to sin, when we don’t have God’s word helping us.

Ephesians 6:10-17 talks about putting on the full armor of God to be able to defend ourselves against the devil, who is going to do anything he can to tempt us and deceive us and pull us away from God. Many of us are facing these kinds of struggles right now and our Christian lives aren’t what they once were or have never been what they truly could be, simply because we’ve never spent enough time in God’s word.

Part of our failing struggle against sin is because we are missing our greatest weapon against it: Ephesians 6: 17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

In a battle, a sword is a vital piece of equipment just like a bull rope is a vital piece of equipment for a bull rider or a lasso is a vital piece of equipment for a calf or team roper.

Paul is telling us just how vital Scripture is in our life as Christians where we daily face struggles against sin.

Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t get on a bull without a rope. Would you go through the struggles of this life without knowing what’s in your Bible?

The need to help others

“He shouldn’t show up to ride if he doesn’t have his own equipment,” one of the Christian riders said when I actually took them to task for not helping.

They didn’t understand his situation; that he was helping them on a night they were short riders. But that shouldn’t have mattered.

Minutes before he was to go out, I was still asking for even a protective vest. Finally, a backpen worker made a young rider give up his vest, the only piece of equipment this young man from Colorado would have in that arena.

I apologized to him that I’d done the best I could and since he had arrived late and missed cowboy church, he asked if I would pray with him.

God doesn’t promise us safety. In fact, he tells us to expect tribulation and struggles, some of which can come from injury or sickness. He promises us that he is bigger than those things and that we just need to trust and rely on Him. In John 16:33, Christ tells us, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

God wants us to trust Him and rely on Him and that was all this rider and I could do at this moment.

I prayed with him that he would be able to do his best and that he would have no fear and I continued to pray against the odds that were stacked against him and that God would use this moment. All the riders who had refused to help him stood on the chutes and watched as he climbed on the back of his bull and the gate was opened.

If they could have seen how they all looked with their mouths hanging open. Without spurs, without a bull rope or glove and nothing but a flank rope and protective vest, this rider put together a spur ride anyway. The bull spun to the left and spun, and spun and spun and the best ride of the entire weekend was witnessed that night. It was one of the best rides some of us will ever see considering it was done without gear and would have scored him into the 90s if he wasn’t riding exhibition.

Every one of those riders watching with stunned looks on their faces knew he would have taken all their money that weekend.

Instead, he left us with some valuable lessons as I believe God paved the way for him not to be injured but instead, for us to gain an opportunity to learn and grow.

Most of us know at least part of this Scripture.

Matthew 22:37-40 "And He said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great and foremost. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Even nonbelievers can quote the loving your neighbor or ‘do unto others’ scriptures, but what we often fail to see is the seriousness of it. It’s a commandment Jesus gave us, not a guideline or a suggestion. He taught a lot of different topics but he didn’t issue too many directives of this nature. It’s one of the most important teachings Christ gave us and we so often overlook it. It’s what will have the biggest impact on other lives and what will demonstrate the love and grace we’ve received from Christ to others.

In that arena, I can’t think of one rider who would have appreciated the role being reversed. Some would have cowboyed up and just dealt with it but most, even this rider from Colorado, would be left feeling pretty lousy about how they’d been treated or accepted.

If this is how they’d treat someone who hadn’t done anything to them, we can imagine how they might treat someone they thought deserved a bad attitude.

Yet, not only does Jesus command us to love one another as ourselves, he goes much further to tell us how to treat an enemy.

Matthew 5:38-42 "You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'
But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.”

In this situation, we didn’t even come close to loving a neighbor, never mind giving someone who hates us the clothes off our back.

Christianity can be hard stuff but sometimes God presents us with easy opportunities to learn and grow.

I believe this situation was one of those God-given opportunities.

We often talk about the need to glorify God. So many riders will point a finger up in the air or take a quick knee in the arena after a successful or safe ride and think that’s all there is to glorifying God. But those gestures mean a fraction of how God could have been glorified by just one man helping this rider out and demonstrating the truth of Christ’s words to us.

“He shouldn’t show up to ride if he doesn’t have his own equipment.” That was the cowboy wisdom being followed that night.

I say, “if someone needs help, you help.” That sounds to me like it could also be something a cowboy would say; especially a Christian one. If it’s not, it should be a part of the unwritten code cowboys run by.

For Christian cowboys, shouldn’t Jesus’ instruction to us be even more important than either of those cowboy codes?

Scott Hilgendorff
Riding for Christ Ministries