Out Our Way: Here am I, send me - Isaiah 6:1-8

Out our way, most cattle are raised in a fenced pasture. Granted, the area is still huge and takes some riding and exploring to find them all, but we know they are there. However it wasn’t always like this, and in some places it still isn’t.

South of town and bordering the Chippewa Cree reservation is Beaver Creek Park. Every year, for a time, it is free range and the cattle wander at will. Come round up time, there is no guarantee where one will find them. Now, it happened one day that I was hauling Doc out to an old homestead some friends of mine owned in the hills and allowed me to use. As I was heading down the road, some riders came up and signaled me. I stopped and they let me know that there were a few strays up the road and would I mind taking Doc and seeing if I could push them back down toward the main herd. Well, of course I said I would be glad to do so.

Now we all know that I am as rank an amateur cowhand as you are likely to find, but I had worked cattle before and moving a few strays seemed an easy job. What I hadn’t figured on was that there were “range cattle” — not pasture bred — and not at all cooperative. After setting up camp. I saddled Doc and we went out to find the strays. There were three pairs I found in the tree line and I thought I would just ease them out and down the road. Ho ho — big foolum! Range cows don’t herd that easily. I realized I was out of my league as they scattered in all directions except the one I was trying to get them to take. I was pretty useless. Ah! But Doc was not.

Doc was raised in the Bear Paws and grew up with range cattle. His earlier years had been spent with cowhands who were the real deal and could rope, run and herd just about anything on four legs. As I sat in the saddle, reins loose and feeling like a total failure, Doc took over. He moved slowly and gently and somehow got them bunched together. Then without spooking them, he urged them to head down the road — and they went. I was useless on my own, but with Doc I was able to do the job.

Isaiah was equally unequal to the task when God called him in a vision to come save Israel. But God didn’t send him alone. God was with him and worked through him. Thus, though inadequate, useless, a total misfit for the job, etc., after God touched and cleansed him, when God asked “Who will go for Me,” Isaiah shouted “Hineni!” — Hebrew for: “Here am I! Send me!” And God did. The rest is history, for Israel is still with us and the faith still burns in synagogues and churches around the world.The point is: Isaiah’s gift was not his ability but his availability. He stepped up and said, “Send me!” And then let God take it from there.

Working range cattle strays in the Bear Paws was certainly outside my abilities — but not Doc’s. Doc just needed someone in the saddle, and that someone was me. “Here am I — Send me!” It may be God is calling you to do something that is way out of your comfort zone. Something that you are sure others would be far better suited to handle. But God didn’t call them. He called you. And if He called you, He also intends to supply you with what is missing. Remember the lesson of Isaiah: “It is not your abilities God wants, but your availability.”

When God calls, say: “Here am I. Send me!” And God will take it from there.

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write “Out Our Way.” He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].