This coming Monday, our Dad would have turned 104. Although he is now with Jesus, I’m so very thankful God gave us our capacity to remember so we can continue to enjoy individuals who have been blessings in our lives.
One comical memory of our Dad involved his ongoing grudge against Rojo. Rojo was a superb specimen of a Rhode Island Red rooster that freely ranged around our property. As roosters are prone to do, Old Rojo heralded the sunrise every morning, often on the roof just outside dad’s bedroom window. Since we didn’t have air conditioning, you can imagine why Dad was not so fond of this biological alarm clock, the wake-time of which could not be adjusted.
I thought of Dad and Rojo when I read about another rooster that believed he was responsible for raising the sun each morning since it always came up shortly after he crowed. He took great pride sticking out his chest, cocking back his head and letting fly the best cock-a-doodle-doo he could muster. What a service he thought he was providing to all creation by waking the sun and motivating it to rise.
One day, this cocky rooster got hoarse and he worried what would happen the next morning if he was unable to concoct his usual proclamation. After a mostly sleepless night, he began stirring about the usual time, cleared his throat, and cut loose. What came out was a very pitiful rendition of his normal pronouncement as he didn’t even have enough volume to wake his hens, much less the slumbering sun. He began frantically pacing, wondering what would happen if the whole earth remained in darkness. He tried a few more times but each attempt sounded progressively worse.
Then, in spite of his laryngitis, the eastern sky began to glow. Slowly, it grew brighter and brighter just as it usually did. “How was this even possible?” he wondered. Eventually, the sun’s first rays peaked over the distant mountain and began filling the shadowy valley with warm light. The hens did awake along with the rest of the sleepy barnyard. Instead of being thankful for this, however, the rooster became very angry and depressed. His illusions of his own greatness were greatly inflated and the morning’s events had just ripped a gaping hole in his proud ego.
Instead of being the cause of the sunrise, the disappointed rooster learned that he was only a herald of it. After visiting his local poultry-counselor, he was able to overcome his depression and began to appreciate and even enjoy the special role that God had given him, even if it wasn’t all that he had imagined it was. It actually relieved him of a great burden when he understood that he wasn’t responsible for each day’s sunlight.
We often have over-inflated estimations of our own importance and imagine ourselves as the ones who make everything happen. Even we preachers can succumb to the trap of believing the survival and advancement of God’s Kingdom depends entirely on our efforts. What a relief to realize that each preacher and every believer is not the cause nor the reason for the gospel, but simply a herald. All Christians do have a very important role to play. We have the privilege of announcing the Kingdom of God and sharing the best news ever that the Son has risen and is coming back! But ultimately, we are not responsible for the work and movement of God’s Holy Spirit nor how others will respond to Him.
In spite of Dad’s threats to hasten Old Rojo’s demise, the boisterous rooster eventually died of natural causes while we were at church one Sunday heralding his Creator’s glory with our own songs. But as Dad’s birthday reminds us of Rojo’s loud precursors of the dawn, let us copy him in sharing and celebrating Jesus and announcing His salvation and His return. Blessings, George