Three-legged hogs

by Adam Pridgeon

There are few things in this world that divide people as much as the thought of cold weather. There are only two sides to this debate. Either you enjoy the cold or you are like my wife and anything below 85 is miserable. 

It’s only a matter of time before I have a heat stroke trying to eat supper, so if this column abruptly stops, that’s probably why. Now, most folks associate cold weather with hot chocolate, sweaters and warm fires. My wife also includes Hallmark movies which I’m sure falls under cruel and unusual punishment. 

I grew up a little bit different than my wife, and the cold weather meant it was time to kill hogs. We liked to do it the old-fashioned way, which turns into an all day affair. 
We would get up at daylight and head down to Mr. Oscar’s house. He’d be in the yard with the sugar kettle full of water and a fire underneath to get the water just to right temperature to scald the hair off. My daddy and his best friend Hammerhead were responsible for shooting the hogs, while it fell to Trey and me to crawl in the pen and drag them out. 

This particular day, we had about eight piney wood rooters that were housed in the pen we had dubbed “death row.” Mr. Oscar, who was the ram rod of the outfit, decided that six of the hogs were ready to eat, so with a .22 rifle we made short work of them. 
We cracked the gate and eased inside the pen to start dragging the hogs out when one of the survivors made a break for the gate. I did my best to hem her up but she made it past me and was bound for freedom. 

My Uncle Porky was the last line of defense. He dove at the hog looking to grab her back leg and make a game saving tackle, but there was one problem. The ol’ sow didn’t have but one back leg, and Uncle Porky grabbed the one that wasn’t there. The sow made a break for the woods never to be seen again.

Uncle Porky was left to dust himself off and get back to work. 

Sin works much like that pen, and if we ain’t careful, we will be caught up facing the same fate as the hogs. However, Romans 7 tells us that while the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. Jesus wants us to make a break for our life and run to him regardless of what we’ve done or how bad of shape we may be. He wants us to have an abundant life in Him and experience grace like never before – even if we can’t catch a three legged hog. 

Until next time keep your powder dry and your chamber clean.