Out Our Way: I ride for the brand - Hebrews 12:1-2

Out our way, sometimes you have to keep going even when you’re dog tired, worn out, and frustrated. It was late fall and time to move the herd down to winter pasture. It had been a wet summer for the Hi-Line and so the spring pasture still had some good grazing left, and the reservoir — though pretty far down, still had a good bit of water.

Cattle, as it happens, don’t have calendars and though it was fall, the weather remained mild. They didn’t realize winter was only a few weeks off and thought it was still summer. So — as Charlie and I began to start rounding them up to get them to their winter quarters, they balked. The herd was spread out that day, gathered in tiny bunches all over the landscape, so our first task was to get them back together for the drive. But as soon as we got 20-30 head together and went after another batch, the first one split up and wandered off. We were trying to cross a small creek and after getting the first bunch across, a small group took off. Charlie went after them while I kept pushing the rest. 

But once they got across, they split up in different directions. I had some 10 in front who were trying to come back across the creek, and another five or six took a different trail and crossed further down the creek bed. Charlie came back pushing three or four more who joined my crew, and together we pushed them down into the shallow valley that would eventually take them to the winter pasture. We got them down and moving, but the moment we let up — they split up and scattered. I remember riding up a ridge and looking down and seeing a myriad of different cattle trails leading in every direction — and small groups on nearly all of them wandering every which way but where we needed them to go. 

All morning and afternoon we gathered, pushed, blocked attempts to double back to the old grazing grounds, chased strays and made virtually no progress. Two of us just couldn’t do the job by ourselves. So we admitted we needed help, went back into town and gathered a few extra hands. Then with five extra riders, we managed to round up the whole shebang and get the job done. I learned two important truths that day: (1) Sometimes you simply can’t do it all by yourself, and (2) it’s OK to ask for help. I suppose I should add a third lesson: Most times you are not alone unless you demand to be.

The author of the Book of Hebrews reminds us that though the Lord’s Road is not an easy one and is filled with trials and frustrations, we are not the first to have ridden it. Nor are we the only ones to have to deal with the numerous frustrations and disappointments we encounter. So we are directed to remember “that great cloud of witnesses” and both learn and be encouraged by them. Read of the heroes and heroines of the Faith — and note how most were as overwhelmed by the difficulties they faced as Charlie and I were overwhelmed by stubborn and reluctant cattle that day. Yet they did not give up, but sought help. They admitted the need and then sought it. They let go of unnecessary burdens like pride and ego, and asked for help.

We have a saying out our way: I ride for the brand. I don’t quit or back down when the going gets hard and I have a job to do. Stubborn cattle who frustrated and irritated Charlie and me had us both at the end of our ropes — and we could have quit and given up. They weren’t our cows after all. But that just doesn’t work out our way. We rode for Big Mike’s brand and those cows needed to be brought to new pasture before the grass was gone, the reservoir gone dry, or the first Alberta Clippers hit. 

We who seek to serve Christ “ride for the brand” as well in our daily lives. So we lay aside everything that gets in the way and do whatever it takes — even when we have to swallow our pride and ask for help. Look at the examples of the great men and women who transformed this world with their faith, who never quit. Different stories, different trials, but always the same focus — to love God, help neighbor, and ride for the brand. 

Be blessed and be a blessing.

Brother John

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The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write “Out Our Way.”