Out Our Way:

Some may recall the time Charlie and I tried to move a few hundred head of cows from the summer pasture down o the winter pasture. It had been a wet spring and the summer grass had grown well, and the upper reservoir was almost overflowing. Come the fall when it was time to move the cows down to the lower pasture they didn't want to go. The grass was somewhat sparcer by now and the reservoir was les than half full, but to the cows it seemed plenty.

Yet Charlie and I knew that while the present grass and water supply seemed good enough, it would not last. Within a few weeks the pasture would be over eaten and the water supply about gone. So although the cattle balked and bellowed and tried to challenge us every step along the way, we kept hard at it and pushed them where they did not want to go. More than a few pairs took off and had to be chased and run back to the main herd. Sometimes I held and blocked the trail back while Charlie went after the run aways - sometimes he blocked and I chased.

It was a long day and regardless of what the calendar said, it felt like July out there as the sun beat down upon us and the sweat rolled off man and horse both. From a cow's perspective, leaving the pasture and water they knew didn't make any sense. They didn't understand about over grazing or water freezing at higher elevations. They couldn't understand that if they didn't get out of the hills and down to the flats many of them would not survive the winter. So they balked. But Charlie and I did know what was coming and so we pushed all the harder - and finally got them down to the lower pastures despite their objections.

When you have herded cows or run sheep you begin to get an appreciation of why the Bible so often refers to the Lord as our shepherd - and ourselves as the sheep of His pasture. It is not a compliment - but it does point out a basic truth. As cows and sheep need someone greater than themselves to guide and lead them, so do human beings. Christ is called the "Good Shepherd" and we who have pulled calves and lambs in 40-below weather - hauled feed out to the herds and flocks in blizzards, and broken up ice in tanks and ponds when the water froze, understand what it is to have Someone looking out for us. And we also understand the frustration that Someone must feel when we balk and fight against the very things we need to survive.

A number of years ago, I wrote a series of books on the Bible called "The Covenant Trail" in which I sought to help other folks discover as I had in my studies, how God is indeed the Good Shepherd and the Watchful Cowboy who cares for the stock. If one knows how the story fits together, one begins to see the plan - the trail, if you will - that God has laid out for the human herd.

For the cow, they only are aware of where they are. Cows have no real sense of where the trail began or where it leads - and so the various meanderings up and down may seem arbitrary. But get up on the ridge where you can see the whole trail and you begin to get the big picture and see why it goes where it goes. Looking over the whole trail you can see that it is necessary for the trail to veer south a bit - so it can avoid some major rock formations or skirt an impassible arroyo with steep sides that lies ahead. You can see why the trail then turns west toward where the plains flatten out and the way is easier - and then turns north to where the water and the tall grass are.

The cow doesn't get it, but the cowhand does and so pushed the herd down the trail that will eventually lead them to the green pastures and still waters they need and crave. The cows will not find it on their own.

Now if you look at the Bible as a trail - leading from Genesis to Revelation, you would see it is not aribitrary at all - but well thought out and planned. That is why Goliath suggested we share "The Covenant Trail" with you. It is like riding to the top of a ridge and seeing the whole layout of the trail - from Abraham to you and me - and beyond. While on the trail we can only see a small bit of it - but if we can ride up the ridge and see how our small piece fits into the whole trail - how we got to this point and where we go from here - well, it just migh make that little stretch we are on at the moment a whole lot more interesting.

Anyway, thats the plan - and i hope you will join Goliath and me as we pop up on the ridge and try to get a litte better idea of the amazing trail God has created for us.

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Goliath and John Bruington are Havre Ridge Runners who invite others to come and see the marvelous views that await those who will saddle up and come see for themselves.