English Stirrup – Insert Foot.

I was boarding my horse at a small stable in Lake Country close to the lake house we had rented for a few summer weeks.

Some people travel with their dog, I travel with my horse – don’t judge.  My brother, Fraser, had flown out to visit and wanted to come up to the stable to see the horses.

Ellen, the owner of the stable asked Fraser if he would like to borrow one of her horses so he could join me on a trail ride.  When he agreed to the idea, she told me to go catch Papa Smurf, as he would take good care of my inexperienced brother.  I caught Papa Smurf, tied him to the hitching post and found the tack labelled with his name. 

Now … in Ellen’s defence, I didn’t specifically ask if Papa Smurf had any quirky habits, and she was busy with a lot of visitors at the ranch that day, so passing on key information about Papa’s idiosyncrasies could have easily slipped her mind.  As I started to tighten the girth I noticed the tension growing in Papa Smurf’s expression and body language.  Before I could back off the girth or untie him, he rolled his eyes, stiffened his neck, and threw himself backwards against the lead rope.

SNAP!  The lead rope broke, but the fun didn’t end there.  Papa Smurf buried his head between his knees and commenced broncing around the yard.  Luckily he didn’t injure or damage any of the wide-eyed visitors, dogs, vehicles, or fellow horses as he put on his little performance.

My brother watched all this in obvious distress.  The look on his face made a very clear statement.  “Not in a million years am I getting on that creature.”

Eventually Papa Smurf grew tired of the game, stopped, allowed himself to be caught.

Ellen came running over.  “I forgot to tell you, Papa Smurf doesn’t tie and he’s quite girthy!”

No kidding.

“However,” Ellen continued, “he is very safe to ride.”

I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“I promise he’ll be good.  Go ahead Fraser, hop on.”

Fraser raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Clearly, if we were going to use Papa Smurf that day, I was going to have to ride him first and prove Ellen’s word was trustworthy.

Now I have faith in Ellen.  She is an exceptional horsewoman and has owned Papa Smurf for many years.  The question was; was I willing to prove my faith in Ellen by actually putting my foot in the stirrup.

This experience crystalized my understanding of what James meant in James 2:20 where he writes; ^“But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”

I think sometimes people take that verse to mean we can somehow earn God’s love and our ticket to heaven by being good and doing good things.  How exhausting is that!  But I don’t think that’s what it means at all because of what I read in Ephesians 2:8.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  Thank goodness for Ephesians 2:8 – I don’t have to do a thing but believe, because Jesus did it for me!

Back to James 2:20. I think James is talking about walking in faith in our day to day lives.  It’s easy to say you have faith, but a little more difficult to step out of the boat at the call of Jesus, or in my case, into the saddle, when self-preservation and instinct are screaming the dangers of said activity.  But I also believe and have experienced, that when I trust Him enough to step out of my comfort zone and do what He asks, the results are amazing.  Sometimes the results are immediate, sometimes eventual, sometimes I’ll wait a long time, but the results are always worth the risk.

I took Papa Smurf’s reins and checked my helmet (no need to be reckless).  With everyone watching I placed a nervous pat on his neck and climbed into the saddle.  Nothing.  A cluck and Papa Smurf moved off obediently.  We trotted around the yard without incident.  Convinced his life was not in imminent danger, Fraser agreed to ride.  We had a fabulous afternoon riding through the mountain trails.  All of which would not have been possible had I not put my faith in Ellen into action by climbing onto that horse.

I have but one remaining question.  What kind of name is Papa Smurf for a horse?