"Halfway"

They asked are you a cowboy,

I had to think a bit,

When you hear that question,

Don’t want to lie ‘bout it.

So I gave an answer,

I think I told it right,

I’m ‘bout a halfway cowboy,

They seemed surprised, uptight.

Why do you say halfway,

And not the Monte whole,

I said, well, it’s like this,

And then my story told.

I was sent to rope a wild one,

I got him halfway caught,

But not before he dragged me,

Halfway further than he ought.

I stepped up on this pony,

Got him halfway rode,

But then he pitched just one more time,

And I got halfway throwed.

I went to see the cow boss,

He got me halfway paid,

‘Cause the cattle market dipped some,

Least that’s what he said.

I once had a sweetheart,

Thought we were bound for life,

‘Bout halfway thought I loved her,

And she’d end up my wife.

But then this other feller,

He had a bigger hat,

‘Bout halfway rich and cocky,

And that, my friend, was that.

And when the sun is setting,

I’ll sometimes pour a cup,

A little sip of comfort,

Feel halfway better, yup.

And when the Good Lord calls me,

I’m sure He knows my name,

I ain’t no halfway Christian,

I have been born again.

But am I a cowboy?

I feel about halfway,

Don’t have a better answer,

It’s all I have to say.

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God…” (John 3:3, NLT)

Jesus made things pretty simple when He talked to Nicodemus. The non-negotiable on seeing and entering God’s Kingdom, according to Jesus, is what He described as a spiritual birth. Nic didn’t get it. How can a man re-enter his mother’s womb and be born again, he wondered. But Jesus was not talking about physical birth. He was talking about a spiritual experience that happens because of the presence and power of God’s Spirit. As Paul later described it, this happens when one places their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. It’s not a halfway, hope so, maybe so kind of proposition. Either you’ve been born or you haven’t. It’s something God does in you and for you, and makes you sure about it. I’m not saying that this gives you a certain feeling or is associated with any particular religious arrangement or “formula.” People experience the new birth in hugely diverse ways. But the experience is promised to all who surrender to Jesus. Not just for some, but all. Not halfway, but all the way.

Lord, help us to be sure that we have truly been born again, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Don Dane, dondane.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Don, and God bless you.