Stumpy

 

There are many places in the Bible where God dialogs with individual people. That is to say the Bible records God speaking to people one on one. Don't misunderstand me, all of the Bible is the Word of God but not all of the Bible is recording God's conversations he has with men. The longest conversation that God has with man is found in the book of Job. Chapters 38 39 40 and 41 is God speaking to Job and his friends. In this conversation God is convincing them of who He is and how His ways are so much greater than man can understand. If you read these chapters God uses animals as examples over and over again. Animals are used as teaching examples throughout the Bible.

 Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. 

For many years I have found fascination with animal husbandry. Animal husbandry is simply the raising of animals, caring for them and observing them. It is hard to understand just how many things can be learned from doing this.  I think that's why God spent His longest conversation filled with stories about animals. He said let the fowls of the air be a lesson to us.

We have raised so many different types of animals, including many types of poultry or fowl. We have raised chickens,  geese, ducks, guinea, quail and they all are a little different in how they act, react or behave. I have a modest home on five acres of land which also has a barn and a corral system. We use it to raise all these different kinds of critters.  The only problem is each one of these different kinds of animals is dumb in a particular way. One day my wife and I were working out in the barn area and my wife said come here quickly. When I came to see what she was looking at I found that there was a Guinea that had gotten his foot caught in the fence about shoulder height and he was just dangling there upside down. If you don't know what guinea looks, they look a lot like a chicken. He's got really short legs and he looks like a bowling ball running real fast.  They run really fast with these little bitty legs just carrying them every which way. They are stronger than chickens for sure and are very loud, screeching all the time. At this time we had several of them because guineas are known for one thing and that's keeping away snakes.

I looked at that Guinea and one thought came to mind as he was hanging there upside down and that is “you did something very stupid to get in this precarious situation”. Now we'll stop and admit that we all have done stupid things that got us in trouble. Usually our worst problems are the results of very dumb decisions. Anyways, I took the guinea and got him untangled and I took him into a section of the barn where we keep animals that are hurt. Injured animals stay in here until they get better or die. When I set the guinea down his injured leg went up while the other one went down, if you can imagine what that looks like. As I remember it, he had completely broken that leg, and there was nothing holding the leg together except for the cartilage. Well what we do is we give him a chance to heal up, animals will stay in this barn till they get better or die.  A few days later we went out to look at this guinea and we noticed that he only had one leg, the other leg that was mangled had actually fallen off, hence the nickname “Stumpy”.  Kind of like a “peg legged pirate”.

Stumpy's dumb decision had cost him his leg. Now there's no end of funny stories that have happened with Stumpy because of him being the way he is, one legged and all. For instance everybody else has two legs and Stumpy has one. Everybody else runs, Stumpy hops and when he hopped instead of run, he just looked like a special kind of stupid on a pogo stick.  At this time we had well over a hundred chickens and various types of fowl. In the midst of the day they would be out scratching anywhere on the five acres.  If  and when I begin to yell “chick chick chick chick” then from all over the five acres every fowl around comes running, except Stumpy he comes a hopping. One of the funniest things you'll ever see is a gaggle of chickens running to beat the band because the first one there gets the most feed and bless his little heart Stumpy always came in last. He would hop hop hop hop hop hop while everybody else was running. I always said he probably only had one leg but it was ripped. 

So we see that Stumpy's dumb decision had cost him a lot but he learned to live with his circumstances and while he may come in last in every foot race . . . . he still ran. Hebrews 12:1 …let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,. 

Some of the things that Stumpy did were extremely funny. Of course the joke is always at his expense, but you have to understand when you raise animals you learn all kinds of lessons. For instance all of the fowl will scratch for their food, that is to say they scratch the ground then they hop back and look down at the ground they just scratched and then they peck at it and eat whatever they turned up. Everybody does it the same  . . . except for Stumpy. Bless his heart, every time he scratched with one leg he would fall down. I admit that I shouldn't laugh . . . but I did every time. One thing that he learned real quick was how to get back up. Over the course of time I tell you that stupid bird could get back up as quick as he fell. You'd hardly even see it, it was so fast. When there's a hundred chickens trying to eat and Stumpy's in the middle of them he would learn to bounce off of them keeping his balance the whole time while having to bend over to get food. Life aint easy for a one legged bird.

Another funny thing that happened (of course this is a joke at his expense) is that all of the poultry will roost at night. Roosting is how they sleep, both feet lock onto the branch of a tree all night. We have a system of poles set up for roosting inside the barn. They will jump up there and their feet kind of lock on and they sleep sitting straight up, and they'll stay like that all night. I imagine it took Stumpy a little practice to be able to do that on one leg but he could do it. A funny thing happened one night, it was extremely cold and I went out to check just to see if anybody had died, and when I opened the door to the barn where the chickens were roosting there were a bunch of them up there roosting. All of them did the same thing, they just kind of turned their heads and looked at me. But there was one Guinea named Stumpy he turned his head and just nearly fell off the roost. He went wobbling and bobbling, wings flapping trying to regain his balance. He just wasn't grounded as well as others I suppose.

Probably the funniest thing I ever saw Stumpy do was this. My wife and I were walking along and talking and one of us asked the other if we had ever seen Stumpy flying. Neither one of us had and we were talking and wondering if he was able to fly.  We were thinking maybe because he can't jump to get started, I don't know maybe it affects his flying. Lo and behold at that very moment here came Stumpy, flying around the corner of the house looking just as normal as any other bird out there.  He was having a time! We said well I guess that answers that question Stumpy can fly. Now I have to admit sometimes my mind can be a scary place, because as I saw Stumpy coming in for a landing . .  . I only have one thought in my mind, “boy that is going to hurt”, “that's going to leave a mark”, not to mention be hilarious when it happens. Sure enough when Stumpy hit the ground with one foot and a stump for a leg it was not pretty. He tumbled and fell and rolled I don't know how many times . . .  but for that brief moment he was normal like everybody else.

I wonder if we could think about Stumpy for a minute or two and learn some lessons.  And let the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: (Job 12:7 ).

Lesson number 1. Stumpy did struggle to eat and to get the nourishment that was needed, but he did what it took to get the feed that he needed, maybe just not as graceful as everybody else. The child of God has the very same needs and that is to be fed spiritually. I don’t think most of us start off as good readers. BUT . . . all of us can start where we are at. With time, practice and patience reading gets better and easier with all of us. It is so important for us to get the spiritual food that we need. Look how the Bible describes the Bible to us in this regard. 1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:. As I write this little booklet we just had 2 baby sheep born yesterday. When I go out to check on newborns I am looking for one thing that is essential to the little babies surviving, and that is that they find the milk that they need to have in order to survive. If they are not getting the milk they need they will only live a short time. 

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You see, God says that just as we have physical needs, we have spiritual needs that must be met as well.  My number one, most repeated lesson that I mention over and over and over when ministering in jail is to encourage people to get their spiritual food which is the word of God. Read the Bible, then the next day read the bible, then the next day read the bible ect. Three chapters a day, four on Sunday and you'll read the Bible through in a year. That's one way to do it. Another is open your Bible, see how many pages are in it and divide that number by 350 and that's how many pages you read every day and you will read the Bible through in a year. Most people that name the name of Christ have never read all of the Bible and then they wonder why we have so many problems in their Christian Life and don’t experience the victories that other Christians do.

Lesson number two that Stumpy can teach us is that there are going to be failings or fallings in our Christian Life just the way Stumpy got startled on the roost. Jesus warned Peter that he was going to fall, that there was a spiritual enemy that desired to bring destruction and failure into his spiritual life . Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 

Peter just knew that there was no way that this was ever going to happen to him. He really felt like he was the “Superman” of Christians and that he was beyond the ability of falling! If we know the story, Peter began to curse and swear and deny that he ever knew Jesus. Matthew 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. When Peter realized what he had done, he had the natural response to failure, and the Bible tells us exactly what he did . . . Luke 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.  Peter felt the same way that we all do when we fall and fail God. He felt like it was over. He felt like he was no longer worthy. You can read the story of his recovery (John 21) but Peter did the same thing that Stumpy did: got up, got right, dusted himself off and went back to it. Proverbs 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.  Dumb mistakes will cost us, and will cause us to fall. I love that verse above for it teaches that a just man (saved man) will fall but he'll get back up again. The wicked man (unsaved man) falls into mischief and he just stays there but a just man he gets back up.

Lesson number 3 is what we do when we fail in our daily walk with God. One time my wife and I were walking on the sidewalk behind our house and here comes Stumpy . . . thumpity thumpity thumpity thump just hoping down the sidewalk. He rounded the corner and we startled him and just as quickly as you can imagine Stumpy fell on the ground and just as quickly, he got back up and changed directions. 

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 

The daily walk is where we succeed or fail in our Christian Life. That is to say, in our day-to-day doings, having the desire to follow God. Ain't no doubt that Stumpy couldn't do what others could do but he did what he could, which included getting back up when he messed up. All God asks us to do as His child is to do what we can by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Lesson number 4 is there will be fallings and failings in our accomplishments for the Lord. There are times when we may fly like Stumpy did, and have a normal life just like every other believer and then comes the crash landing. Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. Don't let failure stop you from doing ministry for God. I could not tell you how many times I have felt like a failure and a flop at witnessing, teaching, preaching, singing, and just trying to live a life for God. So many people are afraid to do anything for God because they're afraid of somebody seeing them crashland like Stumpy did. 

Now let's see the most important lesson of all. and that is the fact that what God usually uses in men is their shortcomings.  

1 Corinthians 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 

We have a tendency to think that God is going to use the most educated or the most polished, well speaking persons. In reality, in the Bible God uses men that men don't think God can use. The reason being, because God gets Glory from using weaker vessels. Paul had learned this very valuable lesson .  . . that was that he would Glory in his weaknesses. Imagine that!  2 Corinthians 11:30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. You see Paul had learned that it was his weaknesses that God could use in the greatest ways. Like a one-legged Guinea doing what everybody thought was impossible. But with God's help there are no impossibilities.

Paul had a problem that could stop him dead in his tracks. Most people think that the text below is talking about Paul's eyesight and that's a possibility, but I really think there is a more fitting description of Paul's weakness. I think that “thorn” is his memory, the memory of all of the things that he had done before he got saved and he referred to that memory as a messenger of Satan trying to stop him.

2 Corinthians 12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. 

Paul had learned one of the most valuable lessons and that was that his weakness was what God wanted to use. When man has a natural ability to do something, then people just give credit to that man for what he does. When people know our inability to do something, but God gives us the ability to do it, men glorify God in what we do for Him. Paul's great lesson was that he had learned what his abilities were, and then he learned that God's abilities were greater. Don't let your inability stop God's abilities. Everyone has an excuse why they can't do something for God, I mean that. Who doesn't have an excuse? The difference is whether we learn to use that excuse to get out of doing something for God.  Don’t let that excuse get in the way of what God wants to do.

According to the Bible you can be

100% sure that you go to Heaven when you die

🕮 1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you

that believe on the name of the Son of God;

that ye may know that ye have eternal life,

and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

1. You must REALIZE that you are a sinner.

🕮 Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 

2.  You must REALIZE that there is a debt for Sin.

🕮 Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; …

🕮  Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

 

3.  You Must REALIZE that Jesus Christ died for you

🕮 Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

  

4.  You must TRUST 100% in what Jesus Christ did to save you

🕮 Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

(A prayer that can be prayed from the heart)

God, I know that I have sinned; I know that the penalty for sin is Hell;

But, I know that you love me and died for me; best as I know how,

I trust what you did for me on the Cross to save me. I want and trust you as my Saviour. Thank you God for saving me,in Jesus name I pray

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