Toddler Rodeo this Sunday, 8 a.m. sharp

Acts 26:14b I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads"

I absolutely love Sundays. I love to worship and learn about My Jesus. I love to praise and to see others testify of Christ's grace, and see people being baptized. I love eating with my family and friends for lunch, and I love a cat nap afterwords to get my body ready for another week. The only thing I do not look forward to on Sundays is dressing my 16 month old, Luke. Luke is a great kid, but he is like the rest of us Stubbs, and is independent and strong willed. Dressing him is an adventure, especially as he is getting increasingly mobile and strong. What starts as a seemingly simple and casual task of changing diapers and dressing him for Church, usually ends up mirroring a calf roping event at a rodeo. As I start to make progress Luke starts to roll over, fight and kick with his own agenda of having fun and trying to get out of the outfit that I am trying to put on him. My voice, grip and creative attempts to distract his own agenda, allowing me to accomplish mine, intensify by the minute. I always end up getting Luke dressed, but many times I am sweating and really needing to worship, if you know what I mean.

I believe that is exactly what my life has looked like before My God, Yahweh. Him holding on to my ankle with one arm as I twist and turn struggling to do my own will, all the while His strength is set on me accomplishing His will in my life. Just like Jesus says to Paul in Acts 26:14 above, He desires for me to "stop kicking against the goads". Goads are the sharp pointed sticks used to spur animals along as they pulled plows,wagons or other items. If an animal disobediently decides to do its own will, and kicks against the goads, nothing really changes except the animal gets hurt and its masters tasks are delayed. That is a great thing to ponder on when we think of our disobedience. We can choose to rebel and not follow Christ as we "kick against the goads", but it only yields pain for us and a hindrance to God's will. Nothing good comes from it for anyone, it is one huge waste of effort.

Jesus says my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt 11:25). A yoke is the wooden beam laid across two animals that harnesses the two animals together, and is fastened to the item they are pulling. The yoke synergizes the pulling effect of each animal so that maximum pulling force is achieved. A Christ follower, allows Jesus to have the load as He leads and we follow, that is why it is a light load for us. When we operate in this intended design, we see the foolishness of kicking against the goads, and the beauty of the common-yoked work of Christ through us, as we pull our loads while we follow Him. Those loads are plain and simply the will of God. The key phrase that must be the rallying cry to succesfully pulling His loads is: obedience by submisison to will of God. That is a phrase that the devil wants us to view as a horrid bondage, when in turn it is the only way out of that bondage.

So if you are bored this Sunday, around eight o'clock in the morning come on over and watch me try to beat my time calf roping, I mean, dressing Luke, bring it on. Yeehaw!