Riding in Cliven Bundy’s Saddle

If only some of those claiming to know what God is thinking would do what God is doing: riding along in Clive Bundy’s saddle

Riding in Cliven Bundy’s Saddle

Author
By Judi McLeod

When you’re up against it taking a stand you believe will save your way of life, there is always someone there to point out what they perceive as the error of your ways.

It’s the Nature of the Beast in Human Nature.
The Nature of the Beast takes many twists and turns whenever the media gets involved.
It’s happened in many stories, not just the Cliven Bundy Ranch story, and it will happen again many times.

So when a dear friend of mine from North Carolina forwarded me a Daily Devotional yesterday morning, I took heart, not just from the devotional but from the quote with which it began: “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.  That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” -Jack Handley

To me, the Handley quote can easily be changed to riding a mile in the saddle of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) beleaguered rancher Cliven Bundy.

Unless you’ve had to wipe the sweat steadily streaming down from under your hat band while out on the range; unless you’ve heard the bawl of a calf separated from its mother, you haven’t ridden in Bundy’s saddle.

How easy (and unfair) to criticize someone’s motives from miles away.

Whatever the build-up to the attempted siege of Bundy’s ranch over the past 20 years, the hardworking rancher, like all ranchers, surely deserved better than to have his cattle corralled off, panicked into a stampede in 90-degree Nevada weather that could have collapsed them.

Surely, the potential violence in a longtime, badly mismanaged dispute over land ownership is worse when it is coming from armed government agents.

We, in the media, both mainstream and alternative, sometimes think we know it all, but we don’t.  Reporting on current events requires accuracy and fairness because readers, too, are often far away from the centre of events.

For accuracy in the Cliven Ranch story, Canada Free Press (CFP) relies on former Las Vegas councillor/columnist Steve Miller.  Miller lives within an hour’s drive of the Bundy Ranch, and his nephew only five miles away.  Fearless and tough as proverbial leather boots, Miller has spent a lifetime challenging political crime and corruption in Nevada.  Senator Harry Reid should worry about Miller because as God only knows, even the mafia has been unable to silence Miller.

But even better is Constitutional expert, radio giant Mark Levin, who gave the most cogent, clear-cut rundown of how Clive Bundy got where he did on last night’s radio show:

Journalists trying to prove their point are quick to throw God into the mix.

But it would be impossible to trump —- Stephen Altrogge, who recognizes how precious the words of Jesus in 2 Corinthians 7:6:

“My friend Adam is a wise guy. Not in a, “A rabbi, a priest, and a vegan walk into a bar” sort of way, but in a Proverbs, real life street wisdom sort of way. He is a residence director at our local university, which means he works with college students every day. He deals with students in trouble, students in the dumps, students on academic probation, students on drugs, students who have been assaulted, and students who are on the verge of dropping out of college. In other words, he deals with kids who are pretty vulnerable. Kids who have really been slapped around by life.

“When interacting with vulnerable kids Adam could easily resort to saying, “I know what you’re going through.” After all, that’s what we say when someone is in a tough spot. We try to relate their experience to our experience. We try to sympathize with them. To comfort them out of our own experience. To let them know they’re not alone. To make them feel loved. And that impulse to comfort others is a good impulse. But Adam doesn’t always do that. Why? Because he knows that in most cases he doesn’t really know what a person is going through. He may be able to relate to some circumstances, but he can’t really know what a person is going through. That is wisdom.

“The reality is, when someone is suffering we don’t know what they’re going through. Even if we have experienced similar circumstances as a person who is suffering we don’t process the world the way they do. And we don’t have the same personal history, biological makeup, or support system. When someone is going through the meat grinder we can only know a tiny portion of what they are really experiencing.

“Our limited ability to know the suffering of others is what makes 2 Corinthians 7:6 so precious. It says, “But God, who comforts the downcast….”

“Jesus knows us fully. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our family history, our biological makeup, our worldview. He knows every nook and cranny of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And he also knows suffering on an intense, personal level. Jesus’ knowledge of suffering is not abstract, ivory tower, textbook knowledge. Jesus was a man of sorrows. He was mocked, betrayed, and humiliated. As he hung on the cross he was cut off from the Father. Jesus knew excruciating, overwhelming, crushing sorrow.

“The combination of Jesus’ omniscience and personal experience with deep suffering perfectly equip him to comfort us in our own suffering. He really does know what we’re going through, and he is ready to comfort us when we are downcast. He doesn’t leave us to muddle and slog through suffering on our own. He doesn’t tell us to suck it up, buck up, and get up. He meets us in our downcast state and pours out grace upon us.

“Suffering tempts us to withdraw from God when in reality we should press hard into God. Are you downcast? Are you suffering? Do you feel like you’ve been chewed up and spit out? Do you feel like butter scraped over too much bread? Draw near to the God who comforts the downcast. Draw near to the God who knows you exactly and knows exactly what you need. Draw near in your weakness and weariness and ready-to-call-it-quits-ness.

“God has a special place in his heart for the downcast. Move toward that place.”

Probably one of the most difficult things for Cliven Bundy and supporters right now is that so many others from far away are trying to tell them what to do.

Isn’t it bad enough living in a world where the government tells you where to live, what to drive, what to eat and what kind of health insurance you can have without being pummeled with the constant criticism and advice of others, even when what is being dished out is well-meaning?

If only some of those claiming to know what God is thinking would do what God is doing: riding along in
Clive Bundy’s saddle