It’s all about the effort
It was perhaps one of the most exciting times of my life. The future looked so bright and I couldn’t wait to get to it. Would I have done some things differently if I knew then what I know now? Sure, but I don’t believe you should live life that way. Life is a journey of many steps and it would be kind of boring if each step was the same as the next or if you didn’t veer off for an adventure every once in a while.
I was graduating high school and there was a bright future ahead of me. I was ready to tackle it. I was never a straight “A” student, but I also never put too much effort in my studies. That might be my biggest regret from that time. It would be one of those lessons I would carry with me for the rest of my life.
For many years I delivered newspapers. Through rain, ice, snow and the heat of summer I rode my bike through the neighborhood. I tossed my many newspapers to the front porches of the subscribers I was assigned. I got bit three times by three different dogs. Strangely, each of those dogs had never bitten anyone before. I developed a really strong work ethic and a love for reading the newspapers I delivered. I would actually read one before I delivered them just in case someone asked me what was going on in the news.
I was very good at saving most of the money I earned and the newspaper had a very good scholarship program that I invested in. I was able to use the scholarships to pay for my first two years of community college. I was able to attend a community college close to home so I didn’t have to pay for housing.
During the summers, between those community college years, I would work construction jobs. I learned a lot in those summers, not the least of which was an even stronger work ethic. I was able to save even more money for my next adventure.
I decided I wanted to be on my own. A free man! But where? What was I going to do with my life? I went to the community college resource center and began checking out universities. A major? I had no clue what a major even was. So I leafed through catalogs of one university after another hoping an idea would jump off the pages.
Growing up, he was a little bit different than most of the Presidents. His father was pretty wealthy. Their clan moved to Columbia. His father was elected a judge because most of people in Columbia were members of his father’s family. His Dad became a respected civic leader and it wasn’t long before fortune was one of his closest friends.
When you are rich it isn’t long before you are associating with famous and influential people. Of course there was no one more famous than the former ex-judge of the state superior court, land speculator, and general in the War of 1812. Old Hickory was a statement in manhood and this young lad looked up to him with glowing eyes. From time to time Old Hickory would stop by their house for a visit.
When the young lad started growing up, he decided he wanted to become his own man. So he went off to school. When he finished school he decided he would move away from home. He headed about fifty miles north to a little frontier settlement named Nashville. His boyhood hero, Old Hickory, had moved there thirty years prior.
There is a story in the Bible about Elijah. There is a drought that is covering the land that Elijah had prophesied. God sent Elijah to a creek, where a raven brought him bread and food. Then God told Elijah to leave there and go to where the widow Zarephath was living and she would take care of him.
Elijah did as he was told and the widow never ran out of flour to feed them. But one day one of the widow’s sons became sick and died. She promptly placed the blame on Elijah for her son’s death. Elijah went to the Lord with a very heavy heart and the Lord empowered Elijah to raise her son from the dead.
That, in itself, is a very powerful story in the Bible. But according to Jewish tradition, the story doesn’t end there. That tradition states that the young man grew up to be a very strong prophet himself. In fact, this prophet warned King Jeoboam II that God was going to destroy his kingdom because of the great sins they had committed against Him.
I came across a catalog on Texas Tech University. It was in Lubbock, Texas. “Texas sounds nice,” I thought. It was also about 100 miles from where my grandmother lived (my Dad’s Mom). “If I needed some family time it wasn’t that far away,” went my reasoning. “I would be a long, long way from home and surely I could establish my own identity,” my logic continued.
But what about that major? As I turned the pages of the catalog I came to all the required classes it took to get a degree in the different fields. I came to the section on Engineering and my eyes opened wide. I was pretty good in math in high school and I had taken four semesters of Calculus in community college. Well, Calculus two was the hardest class I had ever taken. I had to take it three times to finally score a “B.” If I went to Texas Tech, and I signed up for the Engineering major, I would get lots and lots of math and I would only have to take one English class. I hated English. My closest encounter to straight “A’s” in high school was one semester when I got all “A’s,” except one “B.” Guess what that “B” was in? English.
I didn’t really know anybody when I was out there, so I just studied and studied that first semester. I did okay, but I was still just an average college student. The next semester I was starting to get into the Engineering courses. Texas Tech is a renowned engineering school. There were people there from all over the world. Some, if they didn’t get great grades, were called back home in disgrace to the whole family. That wasn’t anything like me: I was someone just trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I was really out of my intellectual league.
I also met some new friends and hanging out with them seemed a lot more comfortable than requirements of being an engineer. Sometimes I would study so hard and go and take a test. I would fail the test. There were no “easy C’s.” I would get so discouraged. Being with friends, who made me feel better, replaced my starry-eyed wishes of being an engineer.
I would fail miserably that second semester. I learned a lot about life, but I also decided that an education, which I was paying for, was not a wise use of my money. After all, I worked so hard to earn that money. The second lesson I learned: I probably should have changed my major because I know now there were probably many majors I would have excelled in. I was just too stubborn to change.
The young lad from Columbia was elected to the job of clerk of the Tennessee state senate. It was here that he caught the political bug and decided he wanted to be more than the lawyer he went to school for.
Old Hickory and his wife, Rachel, had no natural children themselves. This left a void in their hearts, so they would often take young men under their wings that showed promise. The young lad for Columbia was one of those lucky lads. Who better to teach him about getting into politics than Old Hickory?
One of the first things Old Hickory advised him was that he needed to find himself a wife and settle down. Young Hickory asked Old Hickory if he might have someone in mind. “Now that you mention it, there is this little girl. She is educated, healthy, and she comes from a wealthy family,” Old Hickory answered. Young Hickory would marry that girl, Sarah Childress.
One of the things that needs to happen, in order to be a great prophet, is what you say has to come true. Well, God didn’t destroy King Jeoboam’s kingdom because the people repented and reformed. Now that was a good thing for the people, but now other people started talking about the prophet’s “powers.” Is he really a prophet? Was God really going to destroy those people? If there were rankings of prophets at that time, you might say, his ranking was slipping and slipping badly.
Here is where we pick up the prophet’s story. There is a whole book in the Bible from this point on. God tells the prophet, once again, that he wants him to go to another land and relay the same message: “God is planning to destroy you because of your wicked ways.” The prophet understands God and God’s gracious heart. He has been here before. He knows God has blessed him with a great gift of speaking. He knows, with that gift, the people will repent and reform. He then knows God will forgive them and not destroy them. Then he knows his prophet ranking will sink even further and after this time no one will ever believe him again.
James K. Polk’s, Young Hickory’s, marriage and political career started about the same time. He would be quite successful. He would be elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives and two years later he would be elected to the US House of Representatives. He would be re-elected seven times. He would be elected Speaker of the House two times. He would also be elected Governor of Tennessee. He was also elected President on the promise he would only serve one term.
So far, James K. Polk is the only person to have served as Speaker of the House who also became President. Polk was nicknamed “Young Hickory” because he followed in his mentor’s, Andrew Jackson’s, Old Hickory, footsteps. Most historians rank him as one of the most effective one term Presidents.
“Arise and go to Nineveh,” God told Jonah, the prophet. Jonah was very upset with the task God placed in front of him. He was mad at God for not being concerned for him. He was so mad that he decided to ignore God’s command and he hopped on a boat in a totally different direction. “I’ll show Him! I’ll head to Tarshish instead,” he said to himself. Whether you are a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim there is something about what happened to Jonah in your scriptures.
God sat Jonah in the belly of a big fish for three days. I’m sure it was very clear to Jonah after this that he better head to Nineveh, just like God asked him to in the beginning. Just like Jonah predicted, the people repented and reformed. God withheld his judgement. Let’s just say, the book of Jonah concludes with Jonah, once again, being upset with God’s decision not to destroy Nineveh. God tries to give Jonah one more life lesson on this decision, but we really don’t know if Jonah ever accepted God’s choice.
God has placed everyone on this earth for a reason. He has given us a path to follow. He doesn’t give us a physical map to tell us which way to go. No, God wants us to rely on a faith in Him and to use the Bible to guide us in that direction. When we decide to use our own wisdom, pride, or selfishness, He will let us stumble. He waits for us to ask Him for help. He will let us keep stumbling until we wise up and seek Him.
Whether it is changing life’s direction during your college years, or just knowing what you want, like President Polk, or deciding to let God teach you the hard way, in the belly of a big fish, the most important thing is to always lean on faith in God. It may not seem like the best route, but it always offers the best rewards.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Often my own logic seems best. When that pride builds up in my heart, please let me be willing to give it up in exchange for a total faith in you. Let my direction be Your direction. Amen.
