Every day is an education for me. When I look back on the past year that I have been here in Calhoun Falls, the knowledge I’ve acquired is incredible!

And it continues every single day! I learn something new, something different with each person I meet, with each conversation I have, and it’s wonderful!

It’s a rare treasure, this gift of knowledge and experience that we give one another!

Most of the time.

You see there are certain times when we would rather read something in a book or watch it on television than to experience this knowledge in real life!

I would much rather read about a root canal than to have one. I would rather watch someone swim with sharks, than to dive in myself!

I would rather talk to someone who ate my mother’s food, than to eat it myself!

But there are those times, when we do not have the luxury of a newspaper or National Geographic or the story of someone else, and we have to experience it ourselves.

And thus was the case last week.

The entire Rice clan went out of town last weekend. Everybody but me that is.

They all did the normal things you do before going on vacation, like stopping the mail, and having someone to feed the dog, etc.

And after much consideration and realizing that he had no other choice, my uncle Rex asked if I would feed his bulls while he was gone.

Now, it took a while for Rex to ask me this, in fact he even considered canceling his vacation because he wasn’t sure if I could do this.

He wasn’t sure if I owned a pair of jeans, much less could feed a couple of bulls.

But like I said, he didn’t have much of a choice and so he asked me and of course I said I’d be happy to.

Now, I don’t know anything about cows, bulls, or heifers, if fact, I don’t even know the difference between the three. There all cows to me. I’ve never fed a cow, I’ve never had to!

So the days came and went, and everybody left to go on their vacations. And the night before I was to go feed the bulls, I sat in my wonderful recliner and flipped through the channels trying to wind down before I went to bed.

And as I flipped the channels I landed on the Discovery Channel, you know where they have shows about science and other educational topics.

Now what caught my eye was a man dressed all in black with shiny sequins and an odd little hat standing in the middle of a stadium.

He was holding a red sheet that looked fresh off someone’s bed.

For some reason he began to wave and shake that bed sheet in the air. He would pull around his waist and it looked like he was dancing with it.

What in the world is this fool doing? It looked like he was trying to air out his laundry or something.

And then the crowd began to roar as the gates opened up and out came this monster of a bull running straight at that man in the funny get up.

Look out! You better run! I yelled at the tv, even though I know the poor man couldn’t hear me.

And that bull came charging toward the red sheet, pointing his horns at the man; snorting and grunting.

And he time he charged that crazy man waving his laundry, the bull missed ruining his day by inches.

And as the commentator was describing the scene as the bull and the matador battled it out, he said "this bull is really aggressive, he sure is a hungry bull!"

Did he say that bull was hungry? Is that how bulls act when they get hungry?

And I remembered that I’m not feeding just one bull tomorrow, I’ve got to feed two!

Rex didn’t say anything about grunting, snorting, and charging!

So I put down the remote control and ran to my closet and began to look. Well, I have a few suits, a couple pair of jeans, t-shirts, but I don’t have a black sequined suit! What am I going to do?

Rex was already in Florida and I didn’t have his number, so I was just going to have to figure it all out for myself.

But I can promise you one thing, I wasn’t about to take a red bed sheet with me!

All night, I dreamt about those bulls, with the smoke coming out its nostrils, kicking up the dirt and what not.

And in that dream I kept seeing that bull coming after me!

I didn’t get a wink of sleep that night!

So the next morning, I got up early, still seeing the picture of that man in the sequined suit waving the bed sheet in front of that hungry bull.

That bull was not going to get the best of me! I have more sense than to feed bulls wearing sequins and waving a red sheet. I was going to be READY!

So I drove out to Rex’s place. I parked my car and I opened my trunk. I started to pull out various items that I would need in feeding those bulls.

I found the feed and loaded it up on the four wheeler, I saddled up, and made my way toward the pen where the bulls were.

It was almost like I could hear the crowd roaring as I rode through the pasture. I felt like a hero who had come home and I was going to do battle with those bulls.

The further I drove, I began to see the silhouette of two enormous creatures as they walked along the side of the pen. They grew larger as I moved closer.

And when I stopped, the air was still, the birds were silent, the tumbleweeds had slowed. It was just me and those two bulls. They were hungry.

I cut the machine off and I climbed down, and I walked toward the pen and those bulls walked toward me.

I sized them up, free from fear because I was ready!

The bulls looked at me and cocked their heads as I began to pour the feed in the trough.

And they didn’t move a muscle.

Because I think it is safe to say that those bulls have never before seen anyone come to their pen, wearing a football helmet, a sweat suit with Charmin toilet tissue stuffed from the neck to the ankle, holding a golf club in one hand and sprinkling holy water everywhere in the other hand.

But I was ready!

I wasn’t sure what I would encounter when I made my way out to that pasture, but whatever it was, I would be ready for it!

This is the cry that Saint Paul was carrying to the church in Ephesus. Get ready!

Who can forget the memorable tale of Paul Revere riding his horse waking up everybody, screaming from the top of his lungs "The British are coming, the British are coming, get ready, get ready!".

People waking up, falling over themselves trying figure out what all the commotion is about, "The British are coming, get ready!"

"Get ready for what?" "Get ready for battle"

This is the cry that Saint Paul carried to the church at Ephesus, and the cry he brings to us today, "Get ready!" For what? "For battle!"

The British may not be coming in ships across the Atlantic, but there is a battle going on everywhere!

Saint Paul told the Church at Ephesus and he tells us today that there is a battle that doesn’t involve flesh and blood, the British or the Russians, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

In other words, Saint Paul is telling us that there is a battle against temptation, a battle against sin, and a battle against evil.

He’s telling us that there are bulls loose from their pens, and they are hungry, they are hungry for our humility, piety, love and faith.

Saint Paul is reminding us of what we already know, the world can be a very cruel place. The world can turn truth into lie, it can turn peace into chaos, and it can turn faith into superstition and doubt.

You don’t have to take my word for it, all we have to do is watch the news or read the newspapers and we’ll all see people who have been charged by bulls.

Leaders, followers, and everyone in between. The bulls don’t care if we are Methodist, Baptist, or Episcopalian.

The bulls are just loose and they are hungry!

And too many times we leave the comforts of our home and church and we wave that red bed sheet to every hungry bull daring them to come, and come they always do.

For every time we wave that red banner of invitation;

The bull of pride charges through relationships.

The bull of jealousy charges through our career.

The bull of doubt charges through our faith and our relationship with God.

They are out there, so let’s get ready!

Saint Paul tells us to arm ourselves with truth; the truth that God is love, and he is always faithful. The truth that in the end, God is victorious.

Saint Paul tells us to arm ourselves with righteousness; the ongoing process of becoming perfect in love, love for ourselves, love for our neighbor, and love for our God.

We are told to arm ourselves with faith; the belief that we are not alone in this world and that one day we’ll enjoy the peace and the love of paradise.

Let’s get ready with the assurance of our salvation from sin and death. Through our faith in Christ, our living and growing faith, we know that we have been justified, we know that we’ve been made worthy.

Saint Paul calls this bull repellant the ‘armor of God’.

The bulls are out there, so let’s get ready!

Let’s seek out the truth of God, let’s begin the process of becoming perfect in love, let’s seek out a living and growing faith!

Let’s get ready!

John Wesley tells us to seek out the means of grace; that is ways in which we encounter and are strengthened by God’s grace. We can call it the armory, the place where we find our breastplate, where we find our shield, were we sharpen our sword.

The bulls are out there, so lets get ready.

Let’s join together in worship, and encounter our hope

Let’s join together in prayer, and encounter the sword of the Spirit.

Let’s join together in bible study, and discover the truth of God.

Let’s join together in Holy Communion, and rejoice in our salvation.

And let’s join together in fellowship and strengthen one another, and arm ourselves with love.

The bulls are out there and are hungry.

But by the grace of God, we have more than a red bed sheet flapping in the wind.

We have more than sequins and a funny hat, we have victory!

They’re out there, they’re coming, they’re hungry.

So let’s get ready!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.