"Worn Out"

Just a worn-out cowboy preacher,

Who’d lost most everything,

From every hoss he had been tossed,

With buck-offs he was king.

He’d traveled down a broken road,

With many starts and stops,

He wondered why, what’s left of try,

To deal with all his crops,

Of seeds sown for a lifetime,

Through trials, valleys deep,

He knew the Word and he had heard,

The Spirit say he’d reap.

But not just from his failings,

But with the victories, too,

Those special times when God’s own lines,

In his life had come true.

So now the final season,

Would he just fade away,

Or would there be, more ministry,

In these his final days.

And then quite unexpected,

The Spirit was out-poured,

A Pentecost to win the lost,

It came straight from the Lord.

And people asked the question,

‘Bout the preacher and the way,

God’s outstretched hand and divine plan,

And all that he could say,

Was he knew how to buck off,

And then step back on and ride,

His story plain, God held the rein,

And could not be denied.

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness…” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT)

Most of us think we are the strongest when we feel strong. When my Dad lay dying he was surprised that his physical strength failed him. That’s because he had always been able to count on it. “How are you, Dad?” I asked. “Weak as a cat,” he said. He died shortly after, in 2001, and would have turned 100 a few days ago had he lived. The question remains, how strong do you feel? Paul’s commentary in these verses makes a startling, yet powerful, statement. When he felt the weakest, he became the strongest. Why? Because God’s grace works best in and through human weakness. That’s why you can’t always tell when God is going to use someone. They may not be our pick or the one who seems the most qualified. But they are used because of this very thing: they know that without the grace they can do nothing. It’s actually the best place to be.

Lord, help us realize Your strength is made perfect in our weakness, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Tyler Crow, tylercrow.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Tyler, and God bless you.