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Hardheaded
We were all about 16 or 17 and knew everything about everything. So we thought. Our superior and teacher was Harlin Hayes, who managed Harlinsdale Farm. It was summertime and a group of us high school aged guys were hired to do the heavy lifting of the seasonal Farm work. 
Our main crop was horses, lots of horses! Mr. Hayes, as we respectfully called him, was my father’s first cousin. He was well known for his expertise with horses. Not only did he have many yearling horses to break, Mr. Hayes also had a group of young men to break. When he talked you had better listen.
It was late June and time to bring the yearlings back from running free on a farm in Spring Hill, to the stables in Franklin. This was the start of the 2 months of the training and grooming process in preparation for our annual yearling sale.
My job that day was to help catch and halter each yearling before loading them on the trailer. These 1,000 to 1,100 lb. babies didn’t want to be caught. I had just cornered my first filly, carefully slipping a halter over her ears, when she pawed me in the face. The blow blurred my vision and knocked me backwards. Before I could check for blood Mr. Hayes was chewing me out. “I told you always put your left hand over their nose to keep from getting pawed in the face!” 
Then he further used my injury as a teachable moment for the rest who were watching. “You boys need to listen and use your heads for something besides growing hair, these horses will hurt you!” It was a painful, but valuable lesson, and the rebuke was given out of love.
In Revelation 14:6-13 the Apostle John is given a revelation regarding the end of the end. In this section there is a pause in the midst of the pouring out of wrath upon those who refused grace. Three Angels of God are sent to the Earth one last time with a final plea and warning. It sounds rough but it is spoken out of love. 
God does not desire the death of anyone, rather He wants all of us to be saved. God’s exclamation point is the death of Jesus, who gave His Life in our stead, for the forgiveness of our sin. The good news is that by faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we are saved from the wrath of God!
Unfortunately in the passage below, those whom God is pleading with, have become hard hearted and hard headed. They have refused to love the truth and be saved. As a result their thinking has also become perverse and obstinate towards God.
It is a sad reality that God will not force us to listen, nor love Him. It is ours to choose. Choose life!

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