My Introduction to Barbed Wire Fencing

When I was in the first grade, I remember vividly the first few practices that I had for my first season of tee ball. It was so much fun for me, because it was the first time I was actually playing in organized sports with other kids. I learned a LOT of lessons during that time, and especially in the years of baseball to follow. Oddly enough, though, one event stands out in my mind from a practice that is completely unrelated to baseball itself.

It was the end of practice. We were practicing at that time in what I believe was a tee-ball field that was being built from a former cow pasture. Someone had thrown or hit a ball quite a ways away from where the main practice area was. Since we were putting all of the gear away, someone had to go get that ball. I remember being told to run and get it, so I took off. I remember thinking to myself, "Man, I'm running so fast right now!" In an instant I was laying on my back, my head was hurting a little, and I was very confused. As I lay on the ground, staring upward, it was then I saw it – the barbed wire fence that I had ran into with my head. I got up, brushed myself off, and grabbed the ball and ran back to where everyone else was, this time watching out for the fence.

When I got back to my dad, he affirmed my worst fears: I had a cut above my eye and it was bleeding! Anyone who remembers what it was like to be six years old knows that no matter the severity of the wound, if it is bleeding, it warrants crying. But this time my dad said something that was different. "Son, why don't you see if you can keep from crying, and be like a man."

I know that some people would put the brakes on right here and try to accuse my father of some cruelty. "You are suppressing that boy's feelings!" But even at the age of six I knew what he meant. It wasn't about a "men don't cry" attitude (see John 11:35): he wanted me to act more like a grownup. It's how I plan to raise my son(s), should I be blessed with them.

I managed to control my childish emotions for the entire ride home. I was so proud when I walked into the house, a trickle of blood on my forehead, exclaiming to my mom, "I ran into a barbed wire fence, and I didn't cry!" I felt one step closer to growing up, and at least an inch or two taller. After all, the cut above my eye wasn't really as bad as I could have made it out to be.

I'm reminded of Paul's description of the infant like state of the early church and the completion of the knowledge to come. He writes the following:

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV)

 

Just as when the early church grew in knowledge of God's Word to the point at which the miraculous was no longer needed and was taken away in the knowledge of maturity, so must our lives be. This statement made by Paul is a truth. As children, we speak, understand, and think like children. Upon reaching adulthood, though, we put away that manner of speaking, lack of understanding, and train our minds to think, and therefore act like adults. Acting more like mature Christians is part of the "growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…" that Peter writes about at the end of his second epistle (3:18).

Sometimes in life we may feel like we are running faster than we ever have. We feel exhilarated, because life couldn't be any better. It's at those times that we may be beset by a snag in life (or a barbed wire fence). As mature Christians, we put away the urge to blame God. We put away the urge to crawl up into a little ball and cry. We put away the urge to lash out at our brothers and sisters, or worse, shut them out of our lives. Instead, we "gird up the loins" of our minds (cf. 1 Pet. 1:13) and get ourselves ready to keep running!

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." (1 Cor. 9:24, NKJV)