A Chicken Farmer And A Scrawny Sculptor

Judges 6-8

I am teaching Sunday School this week on the Biblical prophet Gideon.  Gideon was someone who in elementary school we would call a “yellow chicken.”  He was afraid of everything. 

I once had a young art student who was the most talented sculpture student I had ever taught.  He was a skinny, little kid who had been beaten down and wrung out by his parents’ divorce.  After graduation he enlisted into the army in the bomb disposal unit.   I can remember being so concerned for him, worried at what might happen to this scrawny, little sculptor.  The next time I saw him, he walked into my office a new man.  He was in full dress greens and looked every bit “A son of the Most High God!”  He was stronger, bigger, and leaner, but above all he carried himself with complete confidence.  He did several tours in Iraq and has become a great leader in the armed forces.

What happened to him?  He found a cause bigger than himself, a worthy cause, a cause worth his life. 

That’s what happened to Gideon. 

That’s the invitation to all of us, sculptors, wheat farmers, army men and the rest,

“’Come and follow me,’ Jesus Said.”