MEANWHILE BACK AT THE RANCH

barneyoldfieldThe old adages eventually make their way to the surface of my noggin and pop up like a Jack-In-The-Box clown without warning. The pondering and contemplation are the cranks of the squeaky metal handle. Round and round it goes with no evidence as to when the weasel goes “Pop!” Then, just like magician’s “Abracadabra!” there it is. “Presto,” without warning.

Sometime back while penning a post here in La-La Land another old adage from childhood resurfaced and fell into the writing order of a post I can’t even recall the subject of, but the adage rejoined the ranks of my conscious mind. Β Of course like all good adages, it’s gonna get dissected like a frog in biology class.

I first heard the adage as a kid without knowing its origin. I think the voice was that of Rex Allen, the famous narrator for cowboy movies and eventually the lighter Walt Disney kid movies. His voice was the perfect “Arizona Cowboy” to deliver the now even more infamous words, “Meanwhile back at the ranch.”

It’s my understanding that the origin of the phrase was in the pioneer days of movies, the silent black and whites that had captions to help the lucky moviegoers follow the story line. The now famous and slowly fading adage was used more for humor in my generation and I too have indulged myself with its clever usage more than once.

While I’m fairly certain not everyone reading this has a ranch, I am certain there are things going on in the lives of all of us that intriguing stories are made up of. Just like the books and movies of old, there is a common denominator to all interest piquing stories… conflict.

There have been times in my life when I felt like the hero fighting and risking much to get what I loved untied from the railroad tracks while the train was bearing down, blowing the whistle, life stealing stress on the victim, the helpless engineer, and the hero, risking his life to the hard thing, the right thing.

There have also been times when I’ve felt like the helpless damsel tied to the railroad tracks, or the guy with his foot caught between the railroad ties, relying on God and other’s bravery for my rescue while I glanced back in terror at the life threatening scenario playing out before my saucer wide eyes.

We all have conflict in our lives. We have back stories that should be on the cover of our hearts while we share our thoughts, hopes, and dreams here. You know little of mine and I know little of yours. Meanwhile back at the ranch, we have life jolting issues playing out in a drama that has little comedic flavor. Some of usΒ have loved ones tied to the tracks by bonds made up of addictions, pride, ego, ignorance, and the characters that accompany this cast in real life that play the antagonists are far too real. Some of my fellow family in Christ have experienced soul-crushing loss…

Heroes are made and sent by our Father to be the hands of courage, wisdom, bravery, and action. There will be discomfort and possibly even downright pain, but it is His truth that sets us free from the ties that bind. May we be the heroes in the stories that matter more than the ones on New York Times best-seller list.

I think maybe we should consider sharing more details of our lives and keep in mind as we do that all of us have a story, all of us are up against our own protagonists with some type of conflict… back at the ranch…