Monday Video–Chain Saw Artist

Here’s a man who has a talent that he puts to good use.

Enjoy.

Sunday Reflection–Jesus Loves Me (Senior Version)

(I got the following from a friend.  At my age it speaks to me.)

While watching a  little TV on Sunday instead of going  to church, I watched a church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior  pastors who had been retired many years. He was 92 at that time and I  wondered why the church even bothered to ask the old gentleman to  preach at that age. 

After a warm welcome and as the applause quieted down, he rose from his high back  chair and walked slowly, with great effort and a sliding gait to the  podium. Without a note or written paper of any kind he placed both hands on the pulpit to steady himself and then quietly and slowly he  began to speak....

"When I was asked to come here today and  talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest  lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about  it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the  most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials, the one thing that I could always rely on when tears, heartbreak, pain, fear and sorrow paralyzed me.  The only thing that would comfort was this… and with an old, cracked voice he began to sing…

"Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong,
We are weak but He is strong.....
Yes, Jesus loves me....
The Bible tells me so."

The old pastor said, "I always noticed that it was the adults who chose 'Jesus Loves Me' during a hymn sing – for the children of course.  And it was the adults who sang the loudest because I could see they knew it the best."

Then he went on to say, "Here for you now is a senior version of Jesus Loves Me":

Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)
YES, JESUS LOVES  ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.  (CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and  long,
In my heart He puts a song.
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."  (CHORUS)

When my  work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love.  (CHORUS)

I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.  (CHORUS)

Then the old pastor slowly made his way back to his chair.

Kids Coming

Our youngest son, Chris, his wife Tracy and our grandson Javier are on their way to our house as I write this.  They’re in the midst of a driving trip from central Ohio to the West to show Javier more of the world.

Javier grew up in Cleveland and hasn’t seen much of the world except Ohio and a trip to Chicago.  They visited friends on the way out.  Before coming to see us they visited with Tracy’s parents in Colorado Springs, Colorado and then with our oldest son, Wade and his family in Fort Collins.

They will be here tonight for supper.  Tomorrow, Chris and I will take Javier to Cliffs Amusement Park to have a little fun.  Tomorrow night we have dinner reservations at the High Finance Restaurant on top of the mountain so we can watch the sunset while we eat.  Sunday, after church, we may go down to Old Town to do a little birthday shopping.  They will be in the area until Monday morning when they head back toward home.

I’ll hopefully have some pictures from their visit early next week.

Changing horses in mid-post we often have some interesting light reflections in the clouds here.  I think it’s due to multiple cloud layers that reflect the sun light in weird ways.

The picture below was taken this morning about 10 AM.  The light is reflecting straight down to the mountain below.  That’s not rain, but light.

Lazy M Memories

I believe that in every life there are people, places and experiences that change your life.  For Betty and me, that would include Margie and Lane Moore and the Lazy M Ranch in Caroline, Alberta, Canada.

We first went to the Lazy M in 2001 after spending some time at the Calgary Stampede.  Margie and Lane Moore were the owners of the Lazy M and we immediately felt at home.  The horses, riding and food were all great.  They also had two camps in the Canadian Rockies – a closer base camp and an outpost camp that required a five hour horseback ride to get to.  Both offered tremendous rides in the mountains that were special and incredibly beautiful.

But what made the Lazy M special for us was Lane’s philosophy about his guests and their horses.

We had been to other guest ranches in Alaska, Colorado and Arizona.  They all offered great horses, riding and food.  But they were the type of ranches where you came out in the morning and your horse was saddled.  After the ride someone took your horse away after you got off.  We had good times at each, but never cared anything about going back.  After our first visit to the Lazy M we knew we had found something special and we went back year and year.

At the Lazy M Lane wanted his guests to learn as much as they could about horsemanship and it all started on the ground.  He wanted you to do all you could physically do.  So, we learned a lot about the basics of saddling, grooming and leading as well as gained good riding experience in lots of different conditions and terrains.

Lane is also an accomplished horse trainer.  The following year, 2002, Betty and I came back to the Lazy M to take a clinic with Lane and we learned a lot about ground work that we still use to this day.  He’s also a certified barefoot farrier and we’ve learned a lot about natural hoof care that has helped us be better caretakers for our horses.

Over the years we went back to the Lazy M each year to learn as much as we could from Lane and Margie.  In the process we met people from all over the world and became fast friends with three in particular – Geoff from England and Saskia and Bernadette from Holland.  The three of them along with Margie and Lane are all still very close friends.

Lane and Margie sold their ranch awhile back and are starting to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

In 2003 I made a promotional video for the Lazy M that travel agents could use to show to prospective guests who were looking for a good guest ranch.  I recently discovered it again as I was going through some old video files.

It gives a good overview of the ranch.  The voice overs are Lane and Margie speaking about the Lazy M.

It was a special place with special people.

Beauty of the Skies

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” (Martin Luther)

I’ve said before that one of the things I love about living in New Mexico is our big sky.  This time of year we have some spectacular cloud formations.  It makes me feel a little humble.

Not Riding for a Week

Betty and I rode Sugar and Morgunn last Wednesday – that was the day we did the video with the shadows.  When we got home and were putting the horses up Betty was checking Morgunn’s hooves.

His left rear hoof was dark pink around the frog and there appeared to even be a little blood perhaps oozing around the hoof.  He was showing any kind of lameness. The ride had been fine with several times of gaiting and Morgunn never hesitated to do anything Betty asked.

We cleaned the hoof off and let it sit for a day.  On Friday morning we talked with Dr. Matt Paxton, our vet, and he said it might have been a bruise, but there was no way to know.  He said as long as there was no lameness the best thing to do was, in his words, “therapeutic neglect.”  We would wait a week and see how it does.  If he showed any lameness we should bring him in so Matt could check him out.

So far there’s no lameness at all.  The picture below was taken over the weekend and it appears there’s a new frog growing under the present one.  We’ll wait until next week to ride him and see how he does.

If anyone has any ideas about what happened feel free to let us know.

Turning 40–Happy Birthday Chris

Our youngest son, Chris, turns 40 today – that’s hard to believe. 

Chris is married to Tracy and they are the ones who adopted our grandson, Javier.  Chris is a good Christian son, husband and father.

Chris works for a consulting firm that deals with insurance companies and they’re doing pretty well.  I don’t understand half of what he does, but he’s evidently pretty good at it.

When he was in college Chris decided he wanted to play the guitar.  He took a few lessons and in a short time he was really good.  Both of our boys have a good musical sense.

Chris, Tracy and Javier are making a driving trip West.  They’re currently in Colorado Springs, Colorado visiting with Tracy’s parents.  Both our boys married Colorado girls.  They will drive up to Fort Collins, Colorado to spend some time with our other son, Wade and his family.  Then next Friday they’re driving down here to spend the weekend with us.  We’re looking forward to it today.

So, happy 40th birthday Chris.  Even if you weren’t my son I would still want to be your friend.