Black and Gus

by Janice Price
Published October 28, 2005

A television newscaster gave a spiel about Black and Gus as the station played a video of two black cows that got loose when the tractor trailer transporting them had a flat tire along the highway.

“There’s Black – or Gus, whichever,” he explained, while viewers watched one cow being led with a long rope around its neck turn right and head into the woods.

When he finished, the other newsman at the desk, asked innocently, “Is it possible those cows named Black and Gus were actually Black Angus?”

The first newsman laughed. “Are you thinking I might have misinterpreted something?” He shuffled his papers, looked closely at the print, and then realization dawned.

Oh, how I know that feeling. It’s becoming an ever more frequent companion as I get older.

Just recently my morning started off normally. I rolled out of bed, donned yesterday’s clothes, and took the dogs on their long, first-of-the-morning business trip. But that morning my back and hip hurt more than usual. Then my legs joined them. I cut our walk short, returned home and went on to other things. By late morning the pain was deeper. I felt I was walking with one foot on a step and one on the ground, but I did not have time to sit down and rest.

Then, while rushing through the house, I glanced down and – I felt much like the first newsman, the one who named the Black Angus cows Black and Gus. I was wearing two similar shoes. They looked almost identical from the top of the shoe, but one sole was thin and one sole was well-padded for walking.

I could empathize with the red-faced newsman. The difference was that he made his mistake publicly, in front of several million viewers. Except for those who might have noticed me hobbling down the sidewalk that morning, no one else was the wiser about mine – at least no one was the wiser until I wrote this story.

The Bible does not specifically warn us to wear reading glasses for delivering the news or to match the soles of our shoes before we put them on our feet, but it does give clear direction to whom we must look for salvation.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven (Jesus Christ of Nazareth - verse 10) given among men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12

Who is Jesus Christ of Nazareth?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. John 1:1, 14, 34

Just to mention a few descriptive titles from the Bible, Jesus is named as the Son of God, Redeemer, Savior, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him (Christ Jesus – verse 5) and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11.

There is only one true Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Have you met Him, or have you been introduced to a corrupt and inferior depiction of Christ? He is not described in the Holy Bible as merely a good man, just one of the prophets, the brother of Satan, a created being, a homosexual, a married man, or the archangel Michael.

Naming cows Black and Gus or wearing two different shoes are minor embarrassing moments, worth a laugh and a roll of the eyes, and then forgotten. We can all identify with making mistakes that are not life threatening. But mistaking an imitation for the real Jesus Christ of Nazareth is no laughing matter.

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