Originally written for Nevada Rancher Magazine
He had worked night after night, once his newborn daughter and three year old son had gone to bed. The dim lights of his shop illuminated their little piece of Heaven on the ranch. Ranch house, pens, a little shop, a few ranch cats, and two dogs on evening patrol. Nearby, a couple of horses with bent necks nibbling grass….all nestled between rock cliff and a creek. The wood stove, in his shop, stoked to warm the hours he would spend, making a special gift for a little cowboy who dreams of being just like dad.
Warm coffee gets cold quick when he loses himself in the project. A railroad spike gets baptizes into fire and is brought to hammer and anvil, beating out it’s orange color until it turns to black. A smooth, pliable shape begins to form and mimics the vision in his head. His son’s tiny handmade boot from RC’s, are close by for reference and the curved metal is measured and pounded until it cups nicely, resting on the tiny spur ridge. He has completed his work for now and will tuck it away, where little hands won’t wonder and steal the curved piece to use to make dirt roads for miniature pickup trucks.
Each night would be much the same as he tweaks and tinkers the first set of spurs his son will own. A cursive pattern, drawn out by mom that will become the silverwork adorning the outside, “Trace”, so precisely placed on the ban. He has already begun his years of collecting gear. Gear both passed down, made, traded and bought. Gear that will see adventures, he will outgrow, and he will care for and repair.
I think of the hours our son put into those lit’l spurs and our grandson proudly walking around the house with them on. He now jiggles like dad. He stops every few minutes to look down, cock his foot sideways, or bend to turn the rowel with his little fingers. A gift he will never forget.
This gear, so important for a little guy who is probably riding the oldest horse in the remuda…the spurs will come in handy to motivate his 1200 pound friend to catch up with the rest. Isn’t that amazing, something so small able to move an animal the size of a horse.
In Hebrews 10:23-25, we are to spur one another on to love and good deeds and I’m interested in how I need to do this. I don’t take it lightly when God mentions cowboy gear in the Bible and I want to gain understanding to this lesson.
How can we take something that seems so small and motivate each other to move something so big….our family, our community, and even our Country. Love and good deeds are contagious, just like a group of horses loping together. That’s what we should look like as we make this gather down here below. Spurring one another on to the finished product, trusting God for His promises of what’s to come.
You see, we’ve got a big job, one that takes consistent nudging, moving, watching out for one another, and motivating one another along the way. A job that reminds us of the good, that reminds us of His ultimate love and to turn and mimic His vision for what He’s creating and molding us into. A job that starts with one little piece of gear that moves us for a much bigger purpose.
My friends, spur one another on today, we’ve got the gear…ride up for the gather.
Thank you for reading…..thecowboypastorswife
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