Yesterday, I was listening to a Podcast with Tucker Carlson and Willie Robertson. Willie was talking about his dad. In the process of listening to Willie, I remembered how much I really like that show.
Phil Robertson had everything in front of him when he was young. A great athlete, he was the starting quarterback Louisiana Tech. He was even said to be better than Terry Bradshaw who was also on his team. However, he loved duck hunting. He left college and returned home to follow his passion. Like a lot of us who go after the things we are meant to do, he got derailed. He got into drugs, heavy drinking, and all of the evil which follow those two addictions. He left his wife and children.
It wasn’t until a brave pastor drove to his bar in Arkansas that things began to change. That pastor walked into Phi’ls bar and talked to him. According to Willie, there was no moment of conversion while the pastor was there. In fact, Phil Robertson ran the preacher out of the bar! However, the message took hold. Phil(in tears) would return home to his wife at some point after this. His wife would forgive him, and he would be a changed man who had made a decision to follow the Lord. Jesus would change Phil Robertson.
The message of today’s post is kind of two fold. One, if you lose your way, the Lord can get you back on the right path no matter how far you think you have walked from his presence. Two, follow your dreams, work hard, and maybe you can do some amazing things. Phil and his family would go on to make Duck Dynasty, write books, and host popular podcasts. Willie noted that they made 50,000 duck calls during the year before Duck Dynasty aired. The next year, they made 1.5 million! They would use those avenues to preach the Gospel. They have baptized many in the name of Jesus. People go to Monroe, Louisiana, to hear from the man who sought forgiveness and was saved by grace. And oh yeah, they make great duck calls. Who would have thought that duck calls would have been a path to ministry? Well, God did, and he put that on the hearts of the Robertson family.
When you see students in your classroom who are lost, don’t give up. Ultimately as Christian teachers our jobs are to give our students the power to grow academically. In doing so, they can discover and hone their gifts which will ultimately allow them to be powerful witnesses to the things God has done, and to the things he is going to do. Don’t be afraid if your students don’t fit the mainstream academic mold. God doesn’t use man’s specifications when he creates human beings. He isn’t afraid to get creative. Maybe it is duck calls. Maybe it is sports. Maybe it is a music. God loves our uniqueness(please don’t think I mean that is code for sin…it is not). He made us for specific purposes which are unique to this moment in his story.
Final Thought: Willie Robertson told Tucker that they were able to make television without all of sex and violence so often seen on modern television. The show was tremendously successful. I think it is a great message to show designers in Hollywood. I think many in our culture still desire television programming(and educational programming!!!) which is not pushing the edges(and well beyond) of what the Bible teaches. Like someone wondering in the desert, I also think many in our society are thirsty for what the Bible teaches. Like Duck Dynasty, we run the risk of getting cancelled for speaking the truth…but if God can use duck calls and forgive us for our mistakes, he has the power to take your gifts and tell about a man who rose from the dead.
