Healing Prayer

Last night, our Faith Formation class, lead by Fr. Ed discussed healing. We saw a few clips fromt he 80's movie Resurrection and then watched House. Yea, I know, he's the anti-God smartass character wonderfully played by Hugh Laurie. The episode we covered though was from the first season I think and it was entitled House vs. God. It was full of great contemplative material regarding coincidence, healing, God's work through natural law and on and on. It was great. Not your normal Faith Formation class, but lots of fun.

The main reason I'm covering this, though, is because I have some experience with healing prayer. I'm not an expert, I don't have exceptional faith, I just know it works. My lovely bride was diagnosed with MS not too long ago. And without a doubt she does better when I pray for her in the mornings. This isn't something I tested out. But, I'm human too and sometimes I forget. Then, one day Tonni tells me she's having one of those days and I think, damn, I haven't been praying for her.

She is consistantly better when I call upon the Lord to share His strength and healing with her so that she can carry out those passions He placed within her.

Have faith in your power to effect others' lives. Have faith in your prayers. Have faith.

Horses, Good Friends and ... Aggie Basketball?!?

Thursday I picked up a little bay mare I started a while back that we call Brandi. I wish I had pictures of her because she's a fantastic looking little mare. She is a solid bay daughter of Playboy Boonsmal and I new she was special from the very beginning. Mike Carter took her through her two-year old year and agreed with me that she would be worth putting some more time into.

I travel ALOT. And while showing, rodeoing, etc. I came to know an individual by the name of Chris Littlefield. Great guy, great horseman. Well, I talked my grandfather, J.M. O'Brien, into sending this little mare to Chris. So guess what... Now I've got to deliver her to Henrietta, TX - Six hour trip, one way, just east of Wichita Falls. Well, a good friend of mine, and former O'Brien Ranch employee Bo Crutchfield, works for Chris these days and just happened to be taking the weekend off. He was going to be in College Station all weekend. Well a drive to College Station sounded a lot better to me than that 6 hour drive to Henrietta.

And wouldn't you know it, the aggies played Mizzou in basketball on Saturday afternoon. Oh, and they also had the Utes in baseball that evening. ;)

Now, I have to go. This goes way beyond "two birds with one stone". Ryan Bellows, a childhood friend and basically family, and several other good friends of mine were also in town for the game. So we're talkin' like seven or eight birds with this stone man. Killer stone. ;)

The last time I went to a basketball game at A&M was when Barone was coaching. I know I'm dating myself here, but it was in G. Rollie and you could hear the crickets chirping in there. We could show up at the end of the first quarter and still sit courtside. I am not exaggerating. It was painful. When the administration decided to build Reed Arena, I thought they built it for graduation ceremonies. ;) I mean seriously, Aggie Basketball?!?!

Boy was I surprised. We had a blast! I kept wondering over and over, "Who are these guys?" They were good. Actually, they were great. Beating Number 15 Missouri by twenty at the half. It was amazing. Reed was packed and rocking. You just think Kyle field can get loud. Put 12,000 Aggies in an enclosed building and see how loud they get. It was awesome. The guys had a brief Aggie moment with about 5 minutes left, but I guess Coach Turgeon reminded them that the game was still going on out there. After that they played great ball and held on to the victory. Great company, great team and great fun.

The guys gave me a hard time telling me that they've never seen me do anything that didn't involve horses. However, Ryan jumped in and let them know that this was no exception. My truck was parked outside Reed complete with trailer and horse. I got to inform him that I had already delivered the mare but for some reason that didn't help my case much with these guys. That's OK though. Horses are my life. I got her delivered and had a great time relaxing a little and enjoying the company of a great group of men.

A little R&R is so important. Schedule your life or it will set a schedule for you. Spend your time on the important stuff. What's most important is not WHAT we have in life, but WHO we have in our lives.

My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. (Exodus 33:14)

And it's Thursday Again

Oh man, God saw me coming this morning. I think I have mentioned how much I enjoy the changing sky on here before. Especially weather changes, but sunrise/sunset too. So, yesterday morning not even ten or so minutes after sunrise. This is what I see.

Not this exactly, since I still haven't found my camera. Going to buy a new one soon though, so stay tuned. Anyway, it was as close to this as you can get. The bottom half of the burning sun pushed through the base of the cloud line in a brilliant red and scattered rays straight up and out from the clouds in all directions. It was amazing. And just south of Pleasanton.

Then, in Georgewest it happened again. Not quite as burning red hot, but more rays. They were everywhere. I just broke into a huge smile and said a quiet thank you. It was going to be a great day.

That wasn't even the end of it. OK, I know what your thinking, this kook is making this up now, but I wouldn't have any reason to do that. I mean, I'm writing for maybe my wife, mother and probably two other people here. Three max. ;)

Anyway, pulling into Beeville with Mellow Yellow, Cool Hand Luke and Bugsy in tow, the cloudy sky is just blown apart by the sun. And as I pull by the old Mighty Might on 59 it's as bright as I can stand it. Then it hit me. I'm in one of the rays. It's one of those things where you can't really tell, but you know by looking around you that the sun is only hitting the ground in a select few places. So if you were a good ways off looking toward me, there would be my deer dented chevy dually, aluminum gooseneck cattle trailer and three of the best colts in South Texas cruisin through Our Lord's spotlight. I know it sounds cheesy, but it was freakin awesome.

Well, then we moved telephone poles all morning. Back to reality. The power, or phone, or some company came through the ranch pulling new cable and putting new poles into the ground and guess who got to move all of the old ones. Yours truly and my Dad, Morgan. One blue New Holland Tractor, one round bale trailer and four hours later we were done. Piece of cake.

Now it's 2:30 ish and the county roping is this weekend. That can only mean one thing. We rope. That's three weeks in a row I got to come down here and rope. This is just getting ridiculous. Too much fun. My brother John came up so he and both my uncles and my dad all roped. That is what life's about. I can't imagine a better way to spend an afternoon. Again, wish I had the camera. This is running a little long anyway so maybe it's for the best.

I guess if there's anything to be pulled from this beautiful day, it's that we need to slow down enough to realize when we are having a beautiful day. Every one of them is a gifted hundred dollar bill. Spend it slowly. And spend it with the right people.

Here's your sign.

Anybody know Bill Engvall? He's the comedian who made it big with the hook, "Here's your sign." Here's a little excerpt from one of his first shows:

I just hate stupid people.
They should have to wear signs that just say I'm stupid.
That way you wouldn't rely on them, would you?
You wouldn't ask them anything. It would be like, "Excuse me...oops,
never mind"
"I didn't see your sign."

It's like before my wife and I moved from Texas to California our house
was full
of boxes and there was a u-Haul truck in our driveway.
My friend comes over and says, "Hey, You moving?"

"Nope."

"We just pack our stuff up once or twice a week. Just to see how many
boxes it takes."

"Here's your sign."

Why can't they get the picture? Why don't they understand?
We're not dealing with the planet of apes, we're talking about the
modern man.

Luke 11: 29-32 reminds us of the evil that is present in every generation. The generation of people Jesus addressed wanted a sign. And yet, there it stood before them. The greatest sign of all, the Son of Man.

We plan, work and fill our daily lives with whatever it is we do. While all of this is happening He surrounds us with His Love. Signs. Don't wait until Jesus is packing up to leave and then stand on the corner asking Him if He's moving. Help Him. Spread His Word, His Love. Be a sign of the faithful remnant of this generation.

Prayer or Horse Training

Too many words clutter the message.

No words at all is, in many cases, the best solution.

Listening is always better than speaking.

Asking is always better than telling.

There are no words that can describe your feelings upon getting results.

What are we talking about here? Prayer. No training horses. No Prayer. Anyway, it was enlightening for me to draw this analogy however long ago that it happened. I often speak of horses as a spiritual animal. Our souls, wrapped in leather.

Today's Gospel reading reminded me of this because it was when Jesus taught us how to pray. Use less words. Get to the point and be humble.

Have you been packing around any grudges? It amazes me that Jesus could have prayed about so many things and yet forgiveness is what He uses to wrap up His prayer. Forgive us (here's the important part) as we forgive ...

Not before we forgive, AS we forgive. Our sins will be forgiven only if we forgive those who sin against us. Notice that the other person isn't even mentioned. This is between us and Our Lord God. Who can you forgive right now? Do it. Let it go and surprise them with a hug the next time you see them.

Spirituality truly is a War. And I'd want this guy on my side.

I know a man.

His name is John Moon.

He's iconic in the sense that if you ever saw him, you'd never forget him. He's a husband, a father and a Christian. And he's a warrior.

Sure, he played high school football and was great. He played college football and was great. Even still he fills his spare time with martial arts type activities. But, this is not the truly impressive part of Big Moon. This is just the 'Saul' of Mr. Moon. The mercenary.

The spiritual warrior, the 'Paul' of John Moon, is below:

Gentlemen,

On the way home from LaFogata last time I had an opportunity to reflect on the sermon we were fortunate to hear yesterday morning at Cowboy Church.

I realized exactly how much our Lord had used this time to speak to me directly. I, as many of you, have been dealing with the increased stress placed on my life by the current downturn of the construction industry and the financial status of our country. I have allowed the stresses to come between me and my personal relationship with God. I have been traveling the wrong way on a one way street and the horns of oncoming cars were falling on deaf ears.

Two events of the last week broke through the barrier I had built up and I wanted to share this with you.

I allowed my pride to violate the unconditional trust my wife had in me when I made a financial decision affecting our family without including her in the process. Our marriage has always been based on us relying on each other and prayer to make these decisions and I made this without them.

The second is I did not give of my time and resources to STRRF to justify being one that deserves to be associated with such a dedicated group.

God has placed in my life many areas in which his presence is known but, none as great as the relationship with my wife and all the men on STRRF.

Christ told the 12 disciples to go out and proclaim the good news and I believe he has also placed all of us together to do this as well. We are a select group of men that have been blessed with the abilities and resources to bring great numbers of people together for the enrichment of lives. Seeing and being apart of your lives has made me a better person and I thank all of you for that. I want all of you to know your relationships are those of family. You all deserve the best and in the following months, as I work with God and rebuild our relationship, I will be at my best. As we move forward with growing all the areas of ranch rodeo, and we will move forward, we will all experience increased stresses on our lives. We must always know our strengths come from above. Even the largest of men cannot do it all on their own (I know).

I challenge all of you to increase your communication on a daily basis with Christ. When you feel like you don’t have the time is when you need to take more.

Thank you for your friendships and for allowing God to communicate through you to me. For that, I will always be in your debt.

John Moon

I know John from my involvement with Ranch Rodeo. The above is an email he sent out that delivered the official results from our finals called the South Texas Ranch Rodeo Finals. After reading this, I shouldn't have to tell you that I am truly blessed by the group of individuals involved with the STRRF. I'm not going to try and pull inspiration from this letter in order to share a lesson with you. It's all right there. Thank John for today's message.

---

Further Reading:
How to Communicate Effectively - Shut Up

If today you hear his voice...

If today you hear his voice . . . Get off your butt and do something about it.

Everyday we make decisions without Our Lord. How does it feel when people you are close to make decisions that affect you without having consulted you. Imagine, then ,how Christ feels. The difference is that even though we do this to Him all day every day, He still loves us, forgives us and actively seeks a better relationship with us.

One voice builds you up and one voice tears you down. Often the right thing to do, the thing that builds you up, is the hardest thing to do. But, you KNOW in your heart which voice is which. The most beautiful thing about life is that we get to choose which voice we adhere to. Listen to Him. If you are having a hard time with the war being waged within you, speak the words, "Satan, get behind me."

Sound silly? So did side stepping the journey that lead to the cross. Side stepping that journey wouldn't have sounded silly to me though. Sounds like a pretty good idea. But Christ new His voice. He listened to God and new the plans He had for Him.

And he did something about it. Everyday He did something about it. We all have so many responsibilities. So many things to suck the time from our schedules. Don't let your time with God be a victim of your schedule.

Walk outside, sit on the tailgate and look up.

Ask your spouse what his/her favorite scripture is. If you or they don't have one, now is the time to find one.

Or, buy a book. In the evening brew up a cup of your favorite hot beverage and read one page.

Here are a couple that I have loved: