All of this Will End -- Will you have what He gave you on the last day?

Don Lotspieche has a heart of gold and a personality that you can only shake your head and wonder about. He also has two boys. He's good to them and treats their friends like they're his as well.

One of those boys is one hell of an athlete. He's a football player. Football is huge in South Texas. And it's even bigger in Refugio. Well, there are other sports to play and Don was trying to convince one of his boys' friends to play baseball. The team needed another player, and this kid's dedication and athletic ability made him a pretty big target for everybody's recruiting efforts. ;)

Just to let you know what kind of boy this is, know this. He read about two-a-days in the local newspaper and so when the day rolled around, he went to practice. He started in with all of the other kids until one of the coaches had to pull him aside.

"Two-a-days are for highschool only, " coach informed him.

He's in the seventh grade. He wakes up at night to lift weights. He goes to two-a-days anyway and works out while the older boys practice. Then, when the first session is over and they run wind sprints, he gets in line and runs too. After that he goes back to lifting and waits for the second session to end so he can run again with "the big boys".

Well Don, in wisdom like only Don has, laid one on him right before little league started. Don's not the most wealthy man in the world, and the boy is not very well off either.

"You need to play ball, " he said.

"Nope. I don't like baseball. I'm a football player, " came the reply.

"You see this fifty dollar bill? This fifty says you're gonna play baseball, " Don told him, "And if you keep it until the end of the year, I'll give you another one."

The deal was on. He played ball and Don payed up. The end of the year rolled around and when Don asked about that fifty the kid reached into his pocket on the spot and, along with his toothy grin, showed it to Don.

Then he told Don not to pay him the other fifty. He only needed one I guess.

In today's readings John quotes Christ as saying, "And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day."

Too many times I find that people, including myself, let things they are passionate about or very talented at fall into the hazy oblivion that is 'real life'. And it's so true that if you don't use it, you lose it. Our Lord grants us passion and desire for things for a reason. On the last day, when you get put on the spot, will you raise up those things He gave to you?

Related Reading
- Thursday story that sheds some more light on Don, in case you don't know him.
- It's Ringing . . . Answer Him: A post encouraging action and passion

Colt Killin'

Russ was young. High school aged anyway. But for Russ, that's old. Hell he'd been riding horses all of his life. And he thought it was a pretty tough one, too. He was born into Rusty Carroll's training operation and those of you who know Rusty know that Russ may have been on to something. If there was one thing Mr. Carroll had, it was a work ethic. And if there was one thing Mr. Carroll wouldn't tolerate, it was someone without one.

"You tired of riding that colt son?" Rusty half asked and half jabbed.

"Yes, " came Russ's Napoleon Dynomite-like reply. Half mad, half bewildered with total frustration mixed in.

"Then make a horse out of him then, " came Rusty's reply.

And so it is in life. To have a nice riding green horse, you have to get rid of the colt that's within. Then, to have a finished horse, you have to "kill" that green horse as well. Only then can that trained horse's new life begin. By the way, if you know me, you know how I train horses and you know that this is strictly metaphorically speaking. I can't stand trainers who spend every day beating on the animals entrusted to them. It seems, the less you know, the more brutal you are.

Anyway, there has been much reflection on death and rising lately. It's that time of year. Easter. The season of the Resurrection. My wife and I attend Faith Formation every other Monday and last night covered these same topics. It reminded me of the story that was shared above.

Basically, we have to let Our Lord shape us. And it's not always warm fuzzies. In fact, it's rarely warm fuzzies. You have to pay attention throughout the mess that is life; you never know what He is preparing you for. You have to keep what you learned and leave the actual experience behind; you can't exist in the past, but you must learn from it.

And you have to die; new life with all of it's experiences and mysteries will never come unless you let go of what should be dead.

Remember, bad things will happen.

And you will have no choice in the matter.

The only choice you have is to accept them, or stay hung up on it. Rebirth or squalor.

You don't have to be Stephen, but be somebody.

Today's Readings lead us down the road of reflection. Do we believe? Do we truly believe? And is believing alone enough?

If one truly does believe, they won't stop there. The desire for action burns in the heart of believers. And so those seeking God's ways can never stop at simply believing. Stephen understood this, spoke of this, lived this and died by it as well. He was the first to die for Christ. The first martyr.

The gospel reading from today also deals with belief. Are we seeking bread just to satisfy our growling bellies? Or do we yearn for more than that, something larger than ourselves? Only you can answer that question for you. And only me for me.

Build faith by building character. Build character by resisting the small injustices in life. Just pick one today, like gossip. And serve. Serve Him by backing Him up in your daily life. Be Somebody. Be the person He made you to be.

Related Reading:
- Building Faith with Consistancy

Kentucky-Like Equine Incentive Program In Texas?

House Bill 1881 has passed the Texas House of Representatives and is headed to the Senate.

Kentucky successfully instituted an incentive program for quarter horse breeders in 2007. You can read all about it here.

Almost certainly inspired by the success in Kentucky, Texas State Representative Sid Miller authored HB 1881.

- Here is the history of the bill.
- House Bill 1881 as it was when it passed the House April 23, 2009
- The vote was 144:Y - 1:N and 1 present and not voting

Basically, this bill requires horse breeders to pay "not more than $30" into the program which will then "grant incentive awards" to owners of eligible foals. This could be great for AQHA horse shows since there is currently no compelling monetary reason to show other than improving the desirability of the genetics of winning horses.

But, here are a couple of questions I have for our law makers:

• What happens if breeders do not submit there intention to not participate in the program?

- The bill states that in order to not participate, horse breeders would have to submit a letter to "the department not later than the 30th day before the owner's annual breeding report is due to the applicable breeders' association". This just sounds like a huge headache for many Texas horse breeders.

• Who is the regulating body behind this?

- The Kentucky Quarter Horse Assoc. regulates their incentive program. They have one main prupose - to improve quarter horse activity in KY. What other motivations could Texas government have. I posit that they are probably more concerned with collecting fees than they are the preservation of the horse industry in TX.

See the miraculous in the common

"The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is just another day. Surely you've all been there. . . You take a trip, celebrate an accomplishment, experience a loss, form a new relationship and guess what, life goes on. Be mindful of those days when nothing is happening. Those are the days when all your exciting days are being planned. Those are the days when you have to rejoice in the grind.


Luke is a three-year old that is in that inbetween stage. He is really riding around great. He has a smooth crossing over turn-around and a great stop.

But now it's time to move on. He's learning to be a calf roping horse. He has plenty of gas, and lots of cow. But right now, we're in the grind. He gets lost every now and then, sometimes he's a little late finding his stop, etc. These are all normal things with young horses, but that doesn't make it any easier to stomach. I'd rather be showing him at a horse show or entered in a rodeo. This is the hard part.

These are the days that lead up to the "big day". These are the days that nobody sees. This is the grind. But in the grind, there is greatness.

In Today's Readings, there are two instances of being aware of the spectacular that lies within normal everyday things.

First the apostles rejoice in being punished for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. They are simply doing the things that Jesus told them to do. They are called before the Sanhedrin and flogged for it.

There are two things to pull from this. First, punishment isn't always punishment. And second, they would never have had the chance to suffer for Christ's sake had they not diligently worked on his behalf in the temples and in their homes during the days leading up to their "punishment".

In the Gospel Reading today Jesus shares the five loaves and two fish with the crowd. What amazes me with this story really isn't part of the story. It's something that Fr. Ed shared with us. Here is Jesus, the Son of God. He could divine a steak dinner for every man and child present if he wanted to. But the scholars teach a different kind of miracle. In those days everyone traveled with a little bit of food. An emergency ration. The miracle that occurs here is that Our Lord was able to convince everyone there to share their rations with other people. Think about this. Can you imagine getting 5,000 people together and convincing them all to help feed one another. Truly that would be more difficult than divining a loaf of bread for everyone. To convince, on a normal day, normal folks to love and care for one another. Truly that was the miracle.

Solemn Thursday

Two eighteen wheelers are neck and neck, an oversized load dragging the blades to one of T. Boone Pickens wind energy mills, mobile home after mobile home, even a honda civic with a brush guard . . . all going at least 85 mph. West Texas traffic is a little different than any where else in the state. It's incessant.

But, just north east of exit 400 time stood still for a generous gathering of quiet country folk dressed in black. Some were overwhelmed by their loss, some just reminded of what's in store for them, but all of them struck by the hope they have in Christ. After all, it's only a matter of time.

It was a day to remember Marvin F. Shurley. Pastor Lewis Allen, of Sonora, delivered a short graveside remembrance since we had all just come from the service in town. It was difficult to hear as car, truck and motorcycle after car, truck and motorcycle kept barreling down I-10 topping 90 mph. But then we bowed our heads for the final prayer.

Traffic stopped. It was awe inspiring to say the least. As Pastor Lewis spoke for all of us as we lifted our friend to Our Lord, there wasn't a car in sight. Silence. Then a breeze drifted through the gravestones and cowboy hats to rattle the leaves as Lewis got things wrapped up for ol' Marvin. And just as he did wrap it up in Our Lord's precious name, so did the silence wrap up and roaring highway traffic commence.

No one else spoke of it, but surely there were more who noticed. It was God's moment of silence. And rightly so. Mr. Shurley was a unique man. Good. Diligent. Determined. Entrepreneurial and Kind. Read the obituary if you'd like to know more about Marvin.

Unfortunately, you won't get the whole story. I'm not sure it could be told. As I stood and listened to Louis Balas tell Pastor Allen how well he did the service and that Marvin would have appreciated it, I think Pastor Allen said it best.

"Well, I am certainly honored to have the respect of someone like Marvin, " he said.

I wish I had the benefit of knowing him better, but there are two things I'll never forget. His two-door Cadillac and an evening I spent with him on a back porch in Fredericksburg, Texas. I had known him as a rancher and pioneer in the meat goat industry until that night. After that I thought, hell he's a philosopher and politician wrangler. We discussed everything from the types of people it takes to stick with ranching horses, cattle, goats, sheep or whatever all the way to motivating politicians in Washington, D.C. to take actions that benefit the agricultural industry here in Texas that Marvin evidently felt responsible for.

Many of us that are involved in ag owe Mr. Shurley a thank you and don't even know it. But don't worry, he wouldn't hold it against you. He lead a rough life. Very rough. Right until its end. And you'd be hard pressed to catch him without a smile on his face and one hellofa conversation in his mind.

Thanks for turning down the volume today, Lord so we could have a chance to say goodbye.

Usually I head to the ranch on Thursdays. Here are some of those stories:

• Cowboy Consistancy in South Texas - Part 1


• Working Cattle and Riding Colts: Thursday Reality Check


• Calf Roping - Rough Trail Drives - And Family

God so loved . . . Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son . . ."

The gospel from Today's readings shares the most quoted bible verse of all time. John 3:16. What's interesting is something that Fr. Ed shared this morning. It isn't translated as "For God so loved man"; It's "For God so loved the world".

"One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star." - Loren Eiseley

Loren was a man born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1907 who understood what it meant to live. That the secret to life is living. Only by flailing headlong into life can one even begin to understand it. We really don't even know what we need until we have needed it, or know what we've had until it's gone. Loren's books reflect this mentallity and the fact that he's most widely known as a naturalist writer is ironic at best since his grasp for the love of his world so closely reflects God's love for the same world.

God loves us. There is no doubt. But His Creation was here first. We were made in His image to enjoy it - To love it as he loved it. Let's take some time to be a better steward of His masterpiece.