TO SEE THE ELEPHANT
Of all the 400,000 people called ‘49ers who made it to the gold rush in California those first ten years, very few made any money. They knew they wouldn’t all get rich in the goldfields. But they traveled West anyway “to see the elephant.”
The Farmer at the Circus
Popular at the time was a story about a farmer who heard of elephants but had never seen one. He longed to do so. When the circus arrived in a nearby county, he loaded his wagon with eggs and vegetables and started for the market. On the route, he met the circus parade led by the elephant, which enchanted the farmer, but terrified his horses. They bucked and pitched and overturned the wagon before they ran away, scattering his goods all over the countryside.
The farmer tossed to the roadway, the wagon broken, his horses lost, the eggs and vegetables ruined, the old man limped home on foot. Friends and family gathered to console him on his many losses. He commented, “I don’t give a hang about that stuff. I have seen the elephant!”
Jesus and ’49ers
The ‘49ers and those who followed wanted to see the elephant. And that they did. There is an attraction to adventure when you know you’re at the right spot where history’s being made.
That same sense of adventure surrounded Jesus every step of His ministry. That’s why tough fisherman like Peter, James, and John responded to Jesus’ call.
The Bible says, “At once they left their nets and followed him” (Matthew 4:20).
They had no idea what would happen next. They certainly didn’t figure it would make them rich. But they had an inkling that it would be historic. They went to be with Jesus in order to, well, in order to see the elephant. And what they witnessed was historic beyond anyone’s imagination.
The Call of Jesus
1 John 1:1 put it this way. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at in our hands, and have touched, this we proclaim concerning the word of life.”
The exciting part is that Jesus is still around calling men to follow him. There’s a lot of history yet to be written. It’s happening every day in every town on the spiritual frontier.
Well, maybe it’s about time for you to discover the treasures that neither fade nor rust. Unlike those old-time ‘49ers, you won’t even have to leave home to see this elephant.
Stephen Bly
Circa 1995
Vintage Circus Elephant Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Elephants Images by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
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“To See the Elephant” audio podcast by award-winning western author Stephen Bly. Sponsored by BlyBooks.com Legacy Series.
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