The wind is howling outside my window this morning which has grabbed my mind and whipped it on a fast moving drift into a memory of my one and only cattle drive. I must have been about five years old. I was bundled up in a hat, gloves, and winter coat, squeezed in between the saddle horn and my 6'4" grandfather. A heavy snow was coming down that had already covered the ground as we made our way around a small, dried up pond on the homestead land, and headed out toward the cattle.
It's funny how these memories hit you. While I can feel myself in that saddle with my "PawPaw," I am also observing the scene as an outsider while experiencing this memory, as I have every time I've had this memory. What I see as I observe it, is that same Dust Bowl determination that my great grandfather, Homer Cluck, passed down to his sons. We are facing great adversity right now in our own present day and we must find our inner strength to perservere, just like they had to in their day.
It was dawn and it was freezing cold that early morning. He wore a wool lined cowhide jacket, his day-working cowboy hat and a pair of wool lined leather gloves. Looking back into this scene makes me ask the question: How do we outfit ourselves against the elements we face today?
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. Col 3:14
This is the deepest, most passionate prayer and loudest outcry of my heart right now. I desire so much, that The Commoners of this country would band together in love and harmony and rise up in true prosperity together against all odds. This passage goes on to say,
And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Tomorrow, in honor of the National Finals Rodeo being hosted in Arlington and Fort Worth, Texas this year, I'm releasing a blast of a song called "Fort Worth." This song depicts a glorious breakthrough when my Texas cattle ranching family finally rose up out of all that time in the dust, snow, and wind, into great prosperity.
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