Showing posts with label persistence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label persistence. Show all posts
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Persistence
“All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it.” ~ Robert Collier
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Perseverance Thursday
Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ~James 1:2-4
DAMMITT!
I don't want my faith tested! Not at what seems to be the expense of others. Nor will pretend to have a clue regarding why we are subjected to varying decrees of tribulation.
But, I do know this - Our Lord does not subject us to evil, but there's no reason He can't use every circumstance for accomplishing His purpose.
So shit happens. Isn't that the bumper sticker Forest Gump came up with ;)?
But, like Father Ed likes to say, "God is in the mess."
I for one am going to take tomorrow to dig around in it. Everyone has a mess to deal with. Most of us would choose our own, too, if we got to comparing. But slow down and find God in there. He's there. And I'm gonna find Him.
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Warrior's Stones
Inevitably you've heard the term, "Grow a pair." I know it doesn't portray the most pleasant imagery, but there really is something to having a spine in today's society. There just aren't enough people around anymore that, when asked, speak their mind without reservation. Most folks these days fit into two categories:
Well, the soldiers in the last post - We are His Church...and Warriors - have some stones.
Yea, they have the figurative "pair" that more people today really need, but they also have a different set of stones. They immediately reminded me of David and so I went back and looked up the last chapter in a book I read recently. The chapter entitled, Goliath Down!, speaks of the ammunition David, as a shepherd, brought into battle with him. And I suspect our soldiers friends from We are His Church...and Warriors are packing them, too.
The Stone of the Past
Catalog God's successes in your life. Refuse to focus on your own failures.
Write today's worries in the sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone.
The Stone of Prayer
Before every victory David experienced, he first went to God in prayer. Don't face your giant without first doing the same.
Peace is promised to the one who fixes thoughts and desires on the king.
The Stone of Priority
Think about your own reputation - how strongly you are affected by it - how strongly you defend it. David guarded God's reputation fiercely.
See your struggle as God's canvas. On it He will paint His multicolored supremacy.
The Stone of Passion
David ran, not away from, but toward his giant.
David lobotomized the giant because he emphasized the Lord.
The Stone of Persistence
Goliath had four T-Rex sized relatives. Who knew if they would come to Goliath's rescue. David didn't think one rock would do. He was ready to do it again. And again. . .
Never give up.
Further Reading:
- We are His church... and Warriors
- All of the italicized phrases are quotes from the book, Facing Your Giants: The God Who Made a Miracle Out of David Stands Ready to Make One Out of You
- the yammer on forever without ever being asked about everything because they're an expert category
- and the never say a word because i might offend somebody and so i'll go along with anything category
Well, the soldiers in the last post - We are His Church...and Warriors - have some stones.
Yea, they have the figurative "pair" that more people today really need, but they also have a different set of stones. They immediately reminded me of David and so I went back and looked up the last chapter in a book I read recently. The chapter entitled, Goliath Down!, speaks of the ammunition David, as a shepherd, brought into battle with him. And I suspect our soldiers friends from We are His Church...and Warriors are packing them, too.
Five Stones
The Stone of the Past
Catalog God's successes in your life. Refuse to focus on your own failures.
Write today's worries in the sand. Chisel yesterday's victories in stone.
The Stone of Prayer
Before every victory David experienced, he first went to God in prayer. Don't face your giant without first doing the same.
Peace is promised to the one who fixes thoughts and desires on the king.
The Stone of Priority
Think about your own reputation - how strongly you are affected by it - how strongly you defend it. David guarded God's reputation fiercely.
See your struggle as God's canvas. On it He will paint His multicolored supremacy.
The Stone of Passion
David ran, not away from, but toward his giant.
David lobotomized the giant because he emphasized the Lord.
The Stone of Persistence
Goliath had four T-Rex sized relatives. Who knew if they would come to Goliath's rescue. David didn't think one rock would do. He was ready to do it again. And again. . .
Never give up.
Further Reading:
- We are His church... and Warriors
- All of the italicized phrases are quotes from the book, Facing Your Giants: The God Who Made a Miracle Out of David Stands Ready to Make One Out of You
Friday, June 26, 2009
Hot Thursday
It was ten after 6 and I was finally headed to the ranch. I used one of the little two-year-old fillies to pen the roping cattle this morning and then cut the calves out. They were staying here. But the steers, they were headed back south. I was going to swap them out for some more roping calves. The penning and sorting went quickly, even in the dark. The loading was the hard part. The only loading chute of any kind is what is formed by one panel and the trailer gate. No problem most of the time. Not this time.
There's always one in the bunch. This one was actually a heifer, and she was white with some brendal stripes. She had screwing my early morning efforts up down to a fine art. She had two moves (1) Be the first in the trailer, wheel around and hook the other steers on her way back out while taking at least one with her (2) refuse to go in at all until the steers that were loaded decided to come on back out.
Enter Gus. Gus is my right hand man and appears in the top right hand corner of this website every now and then. He's worth his weight in gold. (even though he was half asleep in the truck bed this morning and i had to go get him) Anyway, once Gus realized that today his work day was going to start before we got to the ranch, he got after it. I just loaded the cooperating steers and let him have that d@&mn heifer while I went to pen the roping calves.
The calves were re-penned in no time and thrown in with the steers. The ones in the trailer were dropped back out and by this time, that white heifer was wanting to be somewhere else. I just loaded them all and cut the calves back out from inside the trailer. Done. Finally. Ridiculous. It's 5 freakin 30 in the morning and I'm soakin' wet. The dog days of summer are upon us.
So I head inside to change clothes. I load up Bugzy and Senorita and head south.
I was a little late so Morgan had already gotten everything fed up at the house. We finished up the feeding rounds and then penned a set of bulls. We were branding again. Mick and Dick had a set of replacement heifers to be branded as well. We were going to try and get them all done before lunch. After the irons were hot (one Jh, one number 8 and one O-B) we started the machine. If you don't know what machine I'm talking about check out this post for pictures and this post for a description.
Anyway, we got it done.
After lunch we caught up the '08 fillies from the Murphy. It was time to brand them as well. There was just one problem.
They were a little wet.
The news said 105 with a heat index at 115.
Well, sweat, or rain (which we haven't had to worry about) creates a problem when branding, especially with horses. It's also more of an issue when you're dealing with barely halter broke yearlings that you know are going to fret a little which will cause them to sweat even more. The brand won't run, but when first placed on the hide, the iron will slide putting the brand where you don't want it. Or worse, burning a spot here and there. So we decided to wait until it cooled off a bit.
One hour later, it's 102. It's not going to get any cooler until midnight. Our breeze just wasn't coming.
We went and got them and got it done. Slowly. When these kinds of situations come up, and they come up ALOT down south, you can't just wait. Hell, we'd never get anything done. You just have to slow down - Calm diligence.
Always press the limits - But at a walk.
There's always one in the bunch. This one was actually a heifer, and she was white with some brendal stripes. She had screwing my early morning efforts up down to a fine art. She had two moves (1) Be the first in the trailer, wheel around and hook the other steers on her way back out while taking at least one with her (2) refuse to go in at all until the steers that were loaded decided to come on back out.
Enter Gus. Gus is my right hand man and appears in the top right hand corner of this website every now and then. He's worth his weight in gold. (even though he was half asleep in the truck bed this morning and i had to go get him) Anyway, once Gus realized that today his work day was going to start before we got to the ranch, he got after it. I just loaded the cooperating steers and let him have that d@&mn heifer while I went to pen the roping calves.
The calves were re-penned in no time and thrown in with the steers. The ones in the trailer were dropped back out and by this time, that white heifer was wanting to be somewhere else. I just loaded them all and cut the calves back out from inside the trailer. Done. Finally. Ridiculous. It's 5 freakin 30 in the morning and I'm soakin' wet. The dog days of summer are upon us.
So I head inside to change clothes. I load up Bugzy and Senorita and head south.
I was a little late so Morgan had already gotten everything fed up at the house. We finished up the feeding rounds and then penned a set of bulls. We were branding again. Mick and Dick had a set of replacement heifers to be branded as well. We were going to try and get them all done before lunch. After the irons were hot (one Jh, one number 8 and one O-B) we started the machine. If you don't know what machine I'm talking about check out this post for pictures and this post for a description.
Anyway, we got it done.
After lunch we caught up the '08 fillies from the Murphy. It was time to brand them as well. There was just one problem.
They were a little wet.
The news said 105 with a heat index at 115.
Well, sweat, or rain (which we haven't had to worry about) creates a problem when branding, especially with horses. It's also more of an issue when you're dealing with barely halter broke yearlings that you know are going to fret a little which will cause them to sweat even more. The brand won't run, but when first placed on the hide, the iron will slide putting the brand where you don't want it. Or worse, burning a spot here and there. So we decided to wait until it cooled off a bit.
One hour later, it's 102. It's not going to get any cooler until midnight. Our breeze just wasn't coming.
We went and got them and got it done. Slowly. When these kinds of situations come up, and they come up ALOT down south, you can't just wait. Hell, we'd never get anything done. You just have to slow down - Calm diligence.
Always press the limits - But at a walk.
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