Hitching Your Wagon

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“Hitching Your Wagon”

            We’ve all heard about hitching your wagon to a star.  It’s an age-old business practice of trying to follow along in someone’s footsteps that you think will go far.  When they do, you hope you will be pulled along whereby improving your position within the company or industry.  What happens if that “star” fades or vanishes?  You then will hope your association with them does not become a detriment to your career.

            The sad truth about the above is it rarely works.  The only place I’ve seen it work is in the military.  As they are promoted to their next command, leaders will “pull” those along into that next assignment as they have trained them and they trust them.  This practice creates a situation whereby the same pattern of thinking and planning continues, essentially narrowing the ability of the staff to see other viable options.  In essence, the ability of flexible thinking becomes more rare as an outstanding officer pulls the group along.

            On the other hand, one might argue it has nothing to do with a person’s ability.  The old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is all too real.  Many times people on the “inside” are promoted over those who may be more competent, but who refuse to part of the in-crowd, being a cool kid, or who may have sat at the popular cafeteria table. 

            Imagine hitching everything to have to a rising star.  Everything you have is placed on the line.  All your hopes are bet on this one person.  Then this star is suddenly gone.  What would you do?  What would you think?  Panic may be the order of the day.  This is exactly what happened with the apostles.

            Jesus called them, one by one, to follow Him.  He asked them to drop what they were doing, whether it was fishing, tax collecting, whatever.  He asked them to give up their livelihoods and follow, not a mission, but a man; one they had never met before.  They slowly, over three years, they began to see the mission He wanted them to see.  They began to understand this man was no ordinary man, but the Son of God, the Messiah.  Then all of sudden, He was killed for claiming to be who is honestly was.

            It was three days after their leader had been hung on a cross.  Were they next?  They gathered in a room with the door locked and kept very quiet, even whispered to each other.  All of a sudden, their leader, their teacher, their Messiah appeared in the room.  He was alive!

            Why don’t we hitch our wagon to Jesus with the same amount of trust and fervor?  While do we hesitate to completely trust in the very person who defeated death and give life, eternal life, just for the asking?

            Jesus asks us to trust Him.  The world will not understand and even hate us for this trust.  Even so, once we are in the palm of the Heavenly Father, the world’s hate will be for naught.  We are His.

            Choose carefully who you hitch your wagon to.  It may just have worldly consequences, or it may have eternal outcomes.