Page 7 - The Game March 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, March 2006 7
God Doesn't Want Perfect - He Wants UsJustAsWeAre
Get Tied On
with Chaplain Shawn
I like Johnny Cash and his music - I mean really like Johnny Cash and his music. I've seen Walk the Line twice, I've nearly worn out American IV: The Man Comes Around, (I didn't think that was possible for CDs!). I recently purchased a copy of his live concert at Folsom Prison. I'd heard it years ago, but after seeing the movie wanted to hear it again. What amazed me is the number of mistakes there are on the album. Several times Cash's voice cracks, there are moments he loses track in the middle of a song and he infamously says all the cuss words that can't be included on the disc. Perhaps we've become accustomed to perfect producing in the music industry - in fact concert producers now have the technology to filter the lead singer's voice so that no matter how poorly a song is sung, what the audience hears is perfect pitch. Perhaps we've become so demanding in our tastes that we don't allow for the imperfections that make up normal human beings.
God has historically enjoyed working with imperfect people - Moses complained of being a poor speaker, David was a murdering adulterer and several of the disciples were dull, uneducated blue collar fishermen. Yet God took these people and turned the world upside down. We're currently studying Run with the Horses - a Study of the prophet Jeremiah on Wednesdays at Soul Survivors.
Jeremiah constantly reminds God that he is too young and not eloquent as a speaker to be God's representative. Yet God doesn't focus on the negative aspects of Jeremiah's character. Rather, He looks at the potential of His fledgling prophet: "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land-against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land", Jeremiah 1:18. God saw that Jeremiah could be all he could be if he handed the reins over to God.
Have we become obsessed with perfection? A few years ago, I attended a clinic by horse expert John Lyons. In it he made a statement that I'll never forget: "When baseball players miss 7 out of 10 times, they get a raise. Yet we expect horses to be perfect every day and are upset went they don't perform as we want
them to." We expect a horse to train the same each time they go out. We do the same with people. Sometimes people, especially those who are dealing with addiction, take 1 step forward and 2 steps back, or vice-versa. We are quick to jump on people and horses which don't live up to our high standards, sometimes writing them off before they are given a chance, or the instruction, to excel. Shouldn't we, as God does, support those who need the help, rather than cutting them down? People often avoid a relationship with God because they fear they need to clean up their act before they dare interact with Him. God, on the other hand, seems to like us to be just they way we are, warts and all.
When Jeremiah complains to God that perhaps they should consider a different tack when the battle hasn't progressed as he would have liked, God replies: "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" Jeremiah 12:5. God was looking well beyond the horizon, while Jeremiah was only focusing on the here and now. Jeremiah looked at his limitations while God looked at his potential. Perhaps we should do the same with both people and horses.
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