I’m pretty sure I owe Hank Franzen fifty bucks. Although I doubt he has a tab anywhere with my name on it, I know he saved me that amount a long time ago, and I’m still grateful for it. At the time, the College National Finals Rodeo in Bozeman in June may as well have been the NFR in Vegas in December. I was about as psyched as Wade Sundell to be there, but I had been having the luck of someone completely different. My first horse posted me coming out of the chute, and instead of declaring myself, I thought I had a pretty decent go. Maybe I did; maybe I didn’t. Whatever the case, I was standing on my head in a matter of three jumps. To make me feel better, John Davis (one of the judges) told me I would have had a reride coming if I had only tried to double grab. It was the proverbial insult to injury scenario. A couple of nights later, I drew a nice little colt of Powder River Rodeo Company’s. I asked Hank what the horse was, and he told me the horse was a little roan horse that had been firing in a nice, little circle to the left. Sounded good to me. I think the number on the horse was 728, so when they started running them in, I went and looked for him. I checked all the horses on one side and then crossed over to the other. Number 728 was in the alley, and it looked like all the horses in the chutes were getting fitted with bronc saddles. I haltered the buckskin horse with the 728, measured my rein, and I began to hook my cinches with the help of my buddy Josh Molnar. I was pretty certain Hank had told me the colt was roan, but I figured the buckskin horse must have been him. As I was beginning to pull my saddle, Hank came and asked me what I was doing. I looked up at him and said, “I thought you said 728 was a roan.” He told me he WAS, and that I had my saddle on the wrong 728, and so did that kid in the chute who was to be second out! I yanked my saddle off, and I was getting my halter on the correct horse when the sponsor flag made its lap to start the bronc riding. Josh and I hustled for all we were worth, and after the first guy had gone, all I had to do was check my rein. They came to me, and Pat Beard, my coach, was holding the roan colt’s head straight ahead while I measured my rein. I set my boot down in my saddle, and I nodded my head about two minutes after I had started putting my halter on him. I can honestly say I started a pretty darned good bronc ride and then fell off about six seconds into it. However, the insult to injury winds were yet to blow. The next evening, I happened to be standing outside of the rodeo office, and I glanced at the fine list that Sunni Deb Backstrom had posted. My name was on there bigger than life. I went and found Tim Corfield, the one who had fined me (who also happened to be my coach at WWCC), and I asked him what I had gotten fined for. He told me I hadn’t been ready when I was called. I told him the story, that another kid had had my horse saddled. He wasn’t giving. I found Hank and told him the deal. He said, “Heck, I’ve never seen anyone get ready that fast. I’ll go talk to him for you.” And he did. And Tim dropped the fine. I was fifty dollars richer for the weekend. I was pretty tickled that Hank was willing to go stick up for me. True, I hadn’t been ready when called, but for good reason. Unfortunately, that’s not generally the case in our real lives. We all fall short. We are all guilty. But God sent his Son to pay the fine for us. And we were in the wrong. That’s mercy. I was as grateful as could be when Hank got me out of that fine, but I was pretty certain I hadn’t deserved it. Hank was just my witness. Jesus, on the other hand, knows we deserve the fine, but he loves us too much to let us pay it. He paid it for us, even though we owed it in a big way. That’s the Gospel. John 3:16 is so well known, it’s almost like we just gloss over it. But look at it: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We dropped the ball in a big way, yet God never gave up on us. He created us for a reason, and that was to live with him day in and day out in a relationship of love. We thought we knew better. And because of our arrogance, we sentenced ourselves to death. God loved us too much, though. Rather than letting us die an eternal death in hell, he sacrificed his one and only Son. His Son who was God, is God, and will always be God, and he let him be nailed on a cross. And because of that death and his ressurection, we’re free. All we have to do is follow him. That’s as good of news as you’ll ever hear. It’s for all of us, and although I know it’s an understatement, that’s a heck of a lot better than getting out of a fifty dollar fine.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 04:32:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015