Texas egos, blanks, and buckets

I went pheasant hunting last week and we had an excellent outing. We shot some skeet to warm up prior to the hunt and the owners of the farm recounted a story about a guy that went hunting with them who was very arrogant. He could not say enough about how great a shot he was and on and on and on and on ad nauseaum. Unbeknownst to him they gave him some shotgun shells that had the shot removed from them, (blanks). When he stepped up to the line to shoot the skeet he of course did not hit a single one. He cursed and spewed on every miss and he never did hit one. They never told him what they did.

I had a similar experience deep sea fishing in Costa Rico one time. We had a little spoiled brat rich kid along with us that was a pain to everyone. He was arrogant and overbearing and no doubt had been treated like royalty all of his young life by overly indulgent parents who sadly were too busy being rich executives to find time to be real parents to him. His father did not even go on the trip with him and had sent him down there on his own.

As sad as his situation was, we all had endured enough of his smart bragging mouth and were greatly relieved when he stepped into the cabin to lie down for a little while. We decided to play a trick on him and rigged up a five gallon bucket which was tied on the end of a big Marlin rod and reel. We let the bucket fill with water and let out several hundred yards of line and the bucket descended to about three hundred feet deep. When the captain pushed the throttle forward it made line scream off the reel just like a big marlin was on the line. We excitedly woke the kid up and told him there was a Marlin on the line and he ran out of the cabin and jumped into the fighting chair. We watched him fight that bucket for the next hour, pumping and reeling in the hot sun. Every time he made a little headway the captain would give it a little gas and the bucket would sink deeper into the sea simulating a monster fish with his rod doubling over and bouncing up and down. Finally the captain slowed it down and the kid reeled in the bucket. When we got back to dock we had some great shots made of him with his prize bucket.

I suppose no one likes to be around someone who is filled with themselves and who has an ego as big as Texas. Isn’t it amazing how the one Person, Jesus Christ, who really is tremendous in every way and could brag if He had so desired, instead descended from heaven and entered the world born in a manger in a barn. He worked as a carpenter and got down on His hands and knees and washed the feet of His apostles to show them how they should serve. Jesus is our Guide and we should emulate His humble demeanor. If you are fabulously wealthy, brilliant, beautiful, strong, excellent at everything you attempt, or tremendous at your profession, remember it all comes from above. Be thankful to the Lord, be humble, (as Golda Meir once said, “Be humble you are really not that great”), and remember we are here to serve both God and others, not to be served. Failure to do so could result in your firing blanks or fighting buckets

1 Peter 5:5
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you in due time.