Out Our Way: Cowboy angels - Isaiah 30:21/ Isaiah 40:3

Out our way, herders are still necessary, even in supposedly familiar country. Big Mike's herd is on the same Tiger Ridge pasture land for years, and every year they move from summer pasture to winter pasture and back again. The reason is obvious - after a few months of grazing, the grass gets grazed down and, especially in the summer, the runoff and spring rains that filled the reservoir in the upper pasture have ceased and the water level is low. They have to move to the winter pasture down below where the grass is still lush and the streams are still full. That's why Big Mike sends Charlie and me up the ridge.

As I have shared before, after Charlie and I have gathered the herd, we start moving them down the main trail from one pasture to the other. Being the greenhorn cowboy, I ride "drag" and push, while Charlie rides point, directing the lead cows in the way to go. Occasionally one or both of us will also ride flank when the herd starts to scatter. I won't say the cattle are afraid of us, but they do tend to respond to us and our horses as we direct them. As a result, eventually we get them from what was becoming a dry and barren land into green and lush grasslands And that is why Mike sends us - to guide them to the good pasture they might never find on their own. 

The word "angel," in both the Biblical Hebrew (Malach) and Greek (Angelos), simply means "messenger." The term can refer to divine beings, like Gabriel, but also to mere humans like John the Baptist, "the voice crying in the wilderness" (John 1:23). In either case, God sends His "angel/messenger" for the same purpose - to show us the Way.

The cattle don't really know who I am as I ride behind them and push them forward. They don't know who Charlie is as he guides on the right trail. But they respond and stay in the way that will get them to the gate and into "the green pastures and still waters" that await. We are the "angels," i.e. "messengers," sent to guide and direct. 

God has sent and continues to send us all angels/messengers along the way as well. We might not know them any more than the cattle knew Charlie or me - but the message will be familiar. This is the way - walk in it!

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Brother John

--

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." He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].