The Times

Not even three weeks ago Bee County was right in the middle of one of the worst droughts in history. Not recent history. History. Period.

Comparisons were made to the drought of the 50's and there was even some video covering the situation that appeared on CNN. Now, I'm not saying we're out of it yet, because we're not yet. But, things are definitely changing.



Last Thursday we just turned cattle out. We shaped up a set of heifers at the main pens and then turned them out. We penned a set of bulls and cut one old shipper out of the group and then turned them out, too. Mick and Dick eased down to the arena and turned the roping cattle out. That picture above is of them letting the dogs work the roping steers a little before heading back to the ranch. It's wet. J.M. even decided to turn out some cattle he had trapped that were supposed to have gotten worked that afternoon. It's real wet. ;)

Watching it rain is something that truly moves me - the sound, the smell, the knowledge of what it does for the country I love... and that I'm certain loves me. It's unexplainable.

And then we watched the grass grow. Really, you could almost watch it grow. It's always been said that South Texas country is strong country. It comes back fast after a dry spell. And the folks who live down there have had plenty of dry spells to know what the country does after getting a little drink. It's fascinating.

Dirt.

Dirt is what this post has to do with "The Times". There are a couple of things that have come to me lately for various reasons:

1. There are no good times.


2. There are no bad times.

There are just times.

I always thought of this verse - Genesis 3:19 ...for dust you are and to dust you will return. - as a command meant to keep you grounded. (no pun intended) However, remembering that we are dust has recently brought encouragement.

During droughts, the dirt just waits. There's no complaining about the lack of water, seeds, nitrogen, etc. There's no wishing it were sand in Tahiti instead of dirt in Bee County. Dirt waits. It does it's job of providing a floor for the world. And it waits.

And then it rains. There's absolutely no time wasted. Dirt produces like it's never had a chance to produce before. It gives it everything it's got. Weeds? Yep get to growing. Grass? Yep. You, too, get to growing. There's no complaining about growing corn instead of wheat. Or pineapples. Or, whatever. Our creator delivers us exactly what we need - when we need it.

So don't think of the bad times as bad times. You know what? You need those times to become the person you need to be tomorrow, or next year. And it works both ways. Don't think of the good times as good times. You simply need those times to become the person you need to be tomorrow, or next year, as well.

It's hard to wait. It's hard to understand that a "bad time" purpose may be just as important as a "good time" purpose. That's why it's important to embrace the times. Period. Because guess what? More droughts are coming. And more rain.

It's Ringing...Answer Him

Well, sometimes things just don't work out. Or do they?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

..."For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. Discussing God's ways is like talking Nuclear Physics with a Penguin...it doesn't make sense and the penguin's not gonna understand anyway.

But, It's so easy to look back at situations I was in years ago or even months ago and see how what I thought was a bad situation was the only circumstance that I could have been in at that time that would have lead me to where I needed to be.

The hard part, though, is this: Trusting in His plans for us when we have yet to experience that end result.

Many of you put so much effort into work, or maybe extracurricular, or a relationship, or whatever. With me it's time and effort into training a horse. Guess what. It's not always going to work out. Sometimes everything is just right and there's no possible way you could be more prepared. There's no possible way you could be more dedicated. And there's no possible way that anyone wants it worse than you. Then you fail. What next?

I started showing horses in registered AQHA shows for the ranch in 2005. I grew up rodeoing and let me tell you horse show calf roping is a whole different ball game. My first one was at the San Antonio Stockshow and Rodeo. Nothing. Then Stephenville. Another nice run and nothing. I was furious. Why weren't these guys placing me. You hear the same tired old stories about how 'you have to have a name' and 'the politics are so bad' blah blah blah. The bottom line is I didn't deserve to be placed.

Well, I finally got some video and started analyzing my performance vs. winning performances. I break things down and study them on an all to regular basis but, that's another story. Anyway, you can't argue with what's staring you right there in the face. So I worked with Bobby Lewis and C.R. Bradley a little bit and got 'Roany' to show quite a bit better. The very next year, Quail Bar Quincy (aka Roany) and I won Reserve World Champion Calf Roping Horse.

Now here is the interesting part. I was just getting into training horses professionally. If I had been placed right off the bat and gotten Roany's performance Register of Merit pretty quick, (that's a recognition of ability that the AQHA awards after winning a designated amount of shows for those of you unaware) I would have sold that horse within the year and moved to the next one. His ways, though, put me in a position to become a better calf horse trainer and win a Reserve World Championship in only my second year of showing.

I was clueless at the time. Well, I'm back. But this time it's rodeo. The funny part is that the horse, Joe, is Roany's full brother. I'm mad. He's awesome. And my Lord and Savior is probably up there laughing His butt off right now.

He's performing on his home turf and does pretty good away from home too. However, he's bug eyed and overworking at the rodeos. I'm entering up and, in some cases, don't even get to finish my tie since he's draggin them out from under me.

So, I pray. Am I really supposed to be rodeoing right now? Am I leaving the path He's layed out for me and that's why it's getting difficult? All I got was laughter.

Of course not. It's the times that we are walking with Him that bring the most challenging work into our lives. If we're with Him, He knows we can handle it. So I'll stick with it. If he had a Reserve World Championshiop in store for the horse showing, who knows what's in store rodeoing.

Find that thing in your life that rings true in your heart and fans the fire in your soul. It won't be what you do to earn a paycheck in most cases. And it won't be easy. What it will be is fullfilling. What it will be is a chance for you to get closer to Christ. That's why He puts those desires in your heart, to bring you to Him. They are not childish dreams. They are a calling. Answer Him.

Is the third time really a charm?

Update:The vet report came back in on the horse. He had a twisted gut. For those of who don't know horses all that well, a twisted gut is just what it says it is. However, it's referred to as a REALLY bad colic. Colics (basically a bad belly ache for a horse) come in different flavors: compaction, sand and twisted gut. Twisted guts are instantly serious and usually result in death. Unfortunately, the little paint horse was no exception.

Original Post
This weekend was great. And then Sunday rolled around. There are plenty of details in this story that I'm going to leave out. I don't want to dwell on any of it and it doesn't help convey the message to get distracted by tangents.

We received a call from the man who was taking care of the horses. I had a paint two-year old gelding down in my round pen. Dead. I hadn't even gotten the chance to ride him yet. He was a new arrival. And now he's dead. So I scratched team roping plans for that afternoon, loaded my calf horse, colt, and stud and headed north.

On the way out, I had to run a check by my grandfather's house for the ranch horse I sold for him in San Antonio. I was leaving a message for the owner of the horse that had died while heading over to John Morgan's house when the black and tan coon dog gyp of my Dad's fell under the trailer and got run over. She was running beside the truck playing with Gus and Lola in the back of my truck I guess and fell. Anyway, she's dead.

I finally get back home and get the dead horse situation resolved. So I head out to feed the roping cattle and call it a day. A long and crappy day. What do I find? A dead roping calf. Seriously!?!? What the heck is going on man!?

A young horse, coon dog and a roping calf all goners. So I figured I could either write a country song and pop open a cold one, or get into scripture and post it here on the Spiritual Horseman. I decided on a hybrid. A cold one and scripture. Hey, I'm Catholic... and Irish. That's just the way it's going to be.

You might know there would be plenty of scripture covering loss and death in the bible. Yes, He gives and He takes away. Yes, He is a refuge for the oppressed. And so on, And so on. But this one caught my attention:

Isaiah 54:10
"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

This isn't talking about how we should handle loss and death and frustration. This addresses how He handles it when, oh let's say that hypothetically ;) you have three animals die in one freakin' day and you fly off the handle a little bit. Even though we forget Him, even though we neglect Him, even if we sometimes resent Him. . . He still loves us. His promise to us will never be broken.

That's just straight up living by example. If we could only be half as strong. He doesn't tell us how to handle loss. He just handles it and all we have to do is follow His lead. Who are you following right now?