Forty-Two

RIDIN' FOR THE BRAND

I never did learn to play ‘42’. As a kid I was allowed to sit and watch the grown folks play as long as I was
quiet. But try as hard as I could to understand what was going on, I couldn’t make much sense of the
game. Any time I was bold enough to ask a question about the game I was rewarded by being sent to my
room. I learned early to sit quiet, watch close, and try to figure out what was happening. All that bidding
and consequent laughing and slapping the dominoes on the table seemed very interesting. Once I
caught dad in a good mood and asked him what it was all about and he told me it depended on the
“suit.” I had one of them hanging in the closet but what that had to do with the game of ‘42’ I didn’t have a
clue.
In my part of the country a man was known and respected by how few words he spoke. The truth just didn’
t take a lot of words. About the only time there was much conversation was over a game of dominos.
When everyone knew the answer to the question before the question was asked, it just wasn’t worth the
breath to speak of it so most just stayed quiet.
One of the times when I was watching a game of 42 the play went around the table twice when everyone
just laid down their hands and one of them begin to shuffle the dominoes. The scorekeeper made some
marks on a piece of paper; everyone had a good laugh and reached for another hand. The table fell quite
as the bidding begin. This was the serious part of the game. Later when I ask what was happening dad
explained that once the play was twice around the table, everyone knew what dominoes was being held
so there was no sense in playing it out. They simply laid their hands down, scored the hand and shuffled
for another. If someone at the table did not play as the rules dictated he simply wasn’t asked to join the
next time the group gathered.
Quiet is a good thing. Quiet is where the truth can be known and contemplated without interference.
Quiet is where we can identify our position with the truth. We live in a time and an economy where truth
appears to be that which is spoken without objection and has little to do with not lying. We allow others to
determine our relationship to truth not because we are weak but simply because it is easier. Quiet has
little to do with it. It appears that the absence of conflict is the motivator. The real problem is that we see
no harm in the “half-truth” and accept it as true, or at the least, not worthy of challenge. We haven’t been
quiet long enough to think about it.
Jesus prompted us to let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No”; “No.” It simply doesn’t take a lot of words to
truthful. Truth, like gratitude, comes from a grateful heart. We say “Thank You” as a social courtesy with
no reflection or intention of gratitude. In the same way we delve into the half-truth with no intention to
deceive, it’s simply more convenient to lie. In Matthew 5:37 Jesus was telling us there is little reason to
lower ourselves to a level where our speech could not be trusted or believed. As a matter of fact, He
added that anything more than “yes” or “no” when we are attempting to convince someone we are being
truthful; is evil. We engage in a lie to tell a lie.
A cowboy whose word could not be trusted was a cowboy out of work. On the range there was little about
the work that is not known. There simply is not much sense to talk about something everyone already
knows. Now I’m not speaking of the telling of tall tales, like swimming the Brazos with an anvil on my
chest. Everyone recognizes that for what it is – a tall tale. I am speaking of playing loose with the truth
and expecting others to believe it.
There is a direct relationship between the words spoken by Jesus and the code of behavior we know as
the Code of the West. Jesus was a man of quiet contemplation and the greatest storyteller who ever
lived. Both Jesus and the Father are truth as well as they speak the truth. The cowboy that rode for the
brand was loyal to that brand. The brand’s troubles were his, the glory as well as the shame. When the
cowboy and the brand disagreed, it was the cowboy who moved on. Where the half-truth and the outright
lie create confusion, the truth brings harmony.
From time to time we all find ourselves in the need to have God working on our side. If God is truth then
He speaks only the truth; anything less than the truth will put us in the position of being God’s enemy, not
His friend. This is exactly opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. The problem of our failing to
achieve our desired position with God lies in the fact that God knows our thoughts even before we do.
More than our thoughts, God knows the intent of the heart, that is, He knows why we do what we do. It’s
tough to con God, especially when He knows what it is you’re up to.
Again we find ourselves attempting to justify what we do over against why we are doing it. In God’s
environment, this process just doesn’t work. God demands unmitigated truth from us. He is completely
offended by this effort to avoid conflict and remain “politically correct.” Like the domino players laying
down their hands because everyone knows the next rock that should be played; perhaps it is time for us
reshuffle and pull another hand. When you know the answer, it’s just not worth the breath to ask the
question. It just may be that God had it right and knew exactly what it is all about when He told the
children of Israel to “Be still, and know that I am God…” (Ps 46:10)

© Carl H. Lenz, 2007

FORTY-TWO