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Pony Express - Success Or Failure?
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Pony Express - Success Or Failure?
In Nebraska, I visited the very first Pony Express building. It was a tiny cabin but was considered luxurious for a Pony Express building. There is a picture of the cabin in the Photo Gallery under Nebraska Roads.
The purpose of the Pony Express was to deliver mail. Being a Pony Express rider was considered a dangerous occupation so it paid $25 per day. That was an outrageous daily wage.
The advertisement for riders said that orphans were preferred. Riders had to be single. The owners of Pony Express were very worried about widows, orphans, and grieving mothers.
Each rider was given supplies that included a gun, Bible, and a bugle. They were given a new horse every 10 miles. They blew the bugle to signal the office to have a horse ready. They rode a 50-mile route back and forth. The mail worked like a relay race. As a rider got to the end of the route, there was another rider ready to take it the next 50 miles. It took about 11 days to get mail across the country.
Buffalo Bill began his career as a Pony Express rider at age 14. The owners of Pony Express felt irresponsible giving 14 year-olds a gun but they felt it necessary for protection. They made the riders sign letters saying that they would only use it as a last resort to protect themselves. This was before the age of worrying about lawsuits so the owner's motives were pure.
It turned out that riding was not as dangerous as everyone expected. They only had one rider die the entire time they were in business. Indians killed this rider. Pony Express over paid for the job of riding.
However, running the Pony Express office was very dangerous. It was frequently robbed and attacked. They lost count of how many office managers were killed. If your profession is in Office Management, would you be willing to take these risks at ordinary salaries? Hindsight shows that the riders were overpaid and the office managers were underpaid.
Sending mail was very expensive. It cost $5 to send what we now pay $.37 for. Counting the differences in the value of money, this was an enormous amount of money. How precious those communications must have been. How desperate people must have been to spend that much money to communicate. Do you love anyone enough to spend that much money to tell him or her so? If so, stop and take a moment right now to send them e-mail for free. Tell them that you love them.
Technology ended Pony Express. The telegraph was less expensive and faster. The owners of Pony Express had to close and were $100,000 in debt when they closed. They had such high hopes and integrity when they opened.
Our sense of fair play tells us that they had earned the right to be a financial success. Their business adventure was fraught with missed calculations regarding business decisions, disappointments, and losses of money and people.
As I thought about the entrepreneurs that started the business, I wondered if they prayed before they went into business. The fact that they gave the riders a Bible makes me believe they were Christians. Their concern for family members of riders and about the use of guns makes me believe they were good men.
I'm sure the owners felt like business failures. Perhaps they begged God to help their business. Perhaps they lost their faith when their business failed.
Possibly they wondered if they had misunderstood God's directions? Did they struggle with discouragement? Did their wives say the horrible words, "I told you so"?
Maybe they had the foresight to invest in the telegraph industry and became wealthy. Maybe they applied the lessons learned in another business and had a success.
Was Pony Express a success or failure? Does the fact that it went bankrupt mean it was a bad idea in the first place?
Pony Express is a colorful part of our history. It served a very important purpose. Families and businesses that moved west desperately needed a way to maintain contact with the east. Perhaps God led these men into business to meet those needs.
These owners are now famous and in history books. They made a difference while on earth. Maybe one of those young riders read that Bible and found God. Maybe these owners made a difference for all of eternity.
Now that these owners are in heaven and have God's eternal view, how they must smile at their limited vision while on earth.
God's way is not our way. If we love God, he will direct our steps. When things turn out differently than we expect, we have to trust that God knows something that we do not.
The Bible calls the things on earth that we care about "rubbish." Knowing Jesus Christ as our true Lord is the only thing that isn't "rubbish. "
That $100,000 loss was rubbish. It may not have seemed it at the time but it was "rubbish." Our fears, disappointments, failures, and losses are all "rubbish." We are to be willing to give everything up for the sake of Christ. What we love may be precious "rubbish" but it is rubbish compared to the wonder of letting Christ be Lord.
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:7 NIV
There is so much in that verse. It begins with our accepting Jesus as our Lord. It doesn't stop there. We have to be "found in him." That means we must stay near him. We must know him on a personal level. We have to spend time getting to know him. Others must recognize him in us.
What freedom there is in being able to let go of every earthily thing we hold dear. We lose our sense of caring what others think because we know that any righteousness we have, comes from God and is by faith. Opinions of the world can't hurt us.
We accept losses because we have them in perspective. Nothing can take away what is most precious, our relationship with God.
We don't need the "law." Rules or regulations don't control us. Love does. Through love, we want to do the right thing. The Bible shows us what is best for us and we seek it constantly out of love.
The "surpassing greatness" of knowing Christ Jesus as our Lord is indescribable and better than anything we think is valuable.
Do you know him this way?
If you haven't met him, let me introduce him to you. He is my Lord and best friend.
Feel free to tell him you need him and invite him into your life. Don't think about it. Just do it. Ask him to forgive your past and future mistakes and to surround you in his love. You won't be sorry. Even though I admittedly take a lot of grace and love, he has plenty of grace and love left for you.
Have you met him but failed to let him be your Lord? Are you holding on to "rubbish?" Are you in pain because you wish you had more of that "rubbish?"
Is time, money, job, or other "rubbish" getting in the way of you knowing the "surpassing greatness" of his nearness? Even our precious family can be "rubbish." Is something about your family haunting you?
The only thing about our family lives that isn't "rubbish" is our family member's relationship with Christ Jesus. Even that is between them and Jesus.
Let go of the rewards you get from hanging on to this "rubbish." Be willing to give up that small "profit" for something much greater. Consider that loss of "profit" a "loss" for Jesus Christ.
Ask him to help you. Get on your knees before him right now and beg him to wrap his arms around you. Tell him you want to know him and to fall in love with him. Confess the "rubbish" that has been causing you pain. Let him have it.
Commit to a regular morning Bible Study and prayer time. Go to a loving church. Get a loving mentor that will hold you accountable. Make falling in love with Him the most important thing in your life. Maintain this love on a daily basis. You will experience so much love that all of the "rubbish" around you will turn into beautiful gifts from God.
Don't miss the magnificent joy of knowing that you can be happy in all circumstances.
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
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