Lt. Tragg was the worst detective in the history of television.

He and Hamilton Burger were the arch nemeses of Perry Mason. A television show that ran from 1957-1966 and starred Raymund Burr.

I know all this stuff because in the first two minutes of the episode, I can identify who gets killed, who gets blamed and who confesses in the last five minutes of the show. Perry Mason is the background noise while I am doing other things. In the early episodes, Lt. Tragg is always present. He always knows that he has the criminal because there is a fingerprint on something. It is amusing to watch a crime show with the absence of forensic science. In that regard, we have come a long way.

I watched the episode knowing that poor old Lt. Tragg is wrong. He is wrong every time. There are a couple of episodes where he does finally get the right criminal, but always with Perry Mason’s help. Every time I see the Lt. Tragg character I am reminded of something important.

Before I get to that, a story.

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule ‘braying’ -or-whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened …and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back … a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up! This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeatedly encouraged himself with that mantra. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought “panic” and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!

It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him, blessed him…all because of the way he managed his adversity. If we face our problems, respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the adversities that come along burying us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us.

Lt. Tragg and the mule remind me that Jesus said, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Keep on for Jesus’ sake!