A cowboy who has been working all day on the open range is suddenly surprised by a band of thieves.  He takes off on a gallop but soon realizes that his tired horse is no match for the rested horses of the thieves.  

The cowboy is faced with a dilemma.  He can either stay on the horse and hope for a miracle, or he can jump off and put up a fight.  It’s a choice he really doesn’t want to have to make. 

He rides through a rocky glen.  “Maybe I should make a stand here,” he thinks to himself.  But if he chooses to fight in the rocks, he might also die in the rocks.  At least he is safe for the moment on his horse.  And so he rides on. 

He passes through a wooded area.  He knows he should stop and fight.  The thieves are gaining; his horse is tiring.  But it’s easier to ride on.  He will ride his horse until it collapses from under him.  Then he will make one last stand.  The problem is that he will likely be caught in the middle of the prairie.  It won’t really even be a fight. 

Many Americans are like the cowboy riding the horse.  The thieves represent their debts and creditors.  They know that their debts are gaining on them.  They know that they can’t borrow forever.  And yet they ride on, spending like usual and hoping for a miracle. 

It seems so obvious that their only hope of avoiding financial collapse is to start taking in more money than they are giving out.  In other words, they have to either increase their earnings or decrease their spending. 

In the same way, it ought to be obvious that our country cannot go on forever spending more than it takes in.   However, most Americans are against spending cuts that effect programs that benefit them.  And likewise, most of us do not want to pay higher taxes.  In other words, as a nation we want to have our cake and eat it, too.   

Most oil companies are against cuts to the petroleum industry.  Most welfare recipients are against cuts in welfare benefits.  Most students and their parents are against cuts in student aid.  Most art lovers are against cuts to the humanities. 

The list could include veteran benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, agricultural subsidies, research grants, job programs, earned income credits, defense contracts, foreign aid, government jobs, special interest projects, and about everything else that is fully or partially funded with government moneys.   

It is not that these are bad, it’s just that if we are going to balance the budget something that effects someone is going to have to be cut.  Sacrificial love is the only thing that can save our economy and eventually our country.  By continuing to run up the national debt we are heaping an impossible burden on the future generations of America. 

The Bible says, “The borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)  Other nations have become our lenders.  If we keep riding the horse we are on, it is only a matter of time until we become servants.   

There is one hope.  We can make a stand now, before our horse completely collapses under us.  Which means, of course, accepting that our government cannot continue spending more than it takes in - even on the things that benefit us personally as individuals.