The Big Picture

We've finally gotten some rain. The grass has greened up and my attitude is a lot better except for one thing, mosquitoes! I've always wondered why God made mosquitoes? They are probably the most annoying creature on this earth. This evening I was sitting out on the back porch enjoying the evening and all of the sudden I heard that sound, the buzzing of a mosquito. The sound started off soft but before long it was right at my ear and I tried to kill him and after awhile I succeeded and everything got peaceful again until there it was again another mosquito. I tried staying out a little longer but the enjoyment wasn't there any more so I went back inside. After going in I asked God again, why did you have to make something as annoying as a mosquito? And I could feel God answer me, "I DON'T MAKE JUNK". So if God doesn't make junk then what are some good attributes of the mosquito? They are a food source for frogs and a bunch of other critters but they carry disease, and they keep me from enjoying my back porch. I found myself becoming negative again and it reminded me of the story of Jonah in the Bible. After Jonah had delivered the message of salvation to the Ninevites and they repented he had sat down and God provided shade for him but a worm came and killed the tree that provided that shade and it annoyed Jonah. He became bitter because of that worm and God reminded him that he had lost the big picture and needed to see what really mattered.

How many time do we get annoyed by the little things and miss the "Big Picture"? How many times do we miss the love of a child because we are trying to pay bills? How many times do we miss an opportunity to help someone because they smell? How many times do we miss a beautiful evening because of a few mosquitoes?

I still don't understand why God made the mosquito but I do know that he sent a few to me tonight to remind me of what is important. To remind me that no matter how annoying the little things are I've got to keep focusing on "The Big Picture" and not get side tracked over what's not important!

Vaya Con Dios

The Eclectic Cowboy

Themals

This is a Musing I wrote back in 2008 that I thought I would share with you today.

The other day on a very calm beautiful day I spent some time watching the Wind Turbines. Most of them were pretty confused not knowing which direction to turn or even not turning at all. But there were 4 turbines that were all turning each one facing a different direction. As I contemplated this I realized that even though each one of these turbines were facing a different direction they all had something in common. They all directly faced the Caprock and the canyon beyond it. What was going on was that even though the wind was not blowing, the air in the bottom of the canyon was warming up and rising up the canyon wall creating a thermal that provided just enough wind to turn the Turbines.

At the time it reminded me of an elk hunt with some good friends several years ago near Taos, NM (a story I will have to share later). But tonight through the message of a friend it reminded me of something else.

Imagine if you will the Holy Spirit as the wind turning the Turbines and the Turbines being us. Some of us don’t connect with the Holy Spirit, some of us are confused by it and don’t know which direction to go and then some of us connect with the wind and turn even though we are pointing in a different direction than everyone else.

The bottom line is that even though we may seem to be going in a different direction than everybody else if we have Christ in our hearts then we are all following the same Holy Spirit. It may lead us down a different path than everyone else, it may lead us to different people than everyone else but the goal is the same and the destination is the same.

Vaya Con Dios

The Eclectic Cowboy

A New Beginning, Again

I write as a start to something new kind of. Over the last couple of months God has put on my heart to start writing again. Back several years ago I wrote several prose on Christian Spirituality from a Cowboys point of view. This will be similar but it won’t be just from the back of a horse gathering cattle. It is probably going  to include may different subject matters from ranching to current events, music and movies. I believe that everything that I write about will reflect Christ in some way.

Now to explain the name Eclectic Cowboy. My Granddad Jack was a character. He farmed, ranched, drove a truck, owned a motel but loved to hunt and especially fish more than anything else. There is one thing that I can remember him saying that sticks in my memory “I am a Jack of all trades and a master of none”. As I look at my life that is the way I am too. I have a Master’s Degree in Ruminant Nutrition, I have been a Wheat Pasture Cowboy, a Ranch Hand, a Livestock Consultant, a Ranch Manager, a Preacher, a Heavy Equipment Operator, a Computer Consultant, a firearms instructor, gunsmith and I even sold and installed Cell Phones at one time. In other words I have fulfilled my Granddad’s definition. Now that title is way too long so I decided that I needed a shorter one. My wife used to watch HGTV and when I was bored and couldn’t get the remote away from her to watch a John Wayne movie I would watch with her. In watching HGTV over the years one word keeps coming up, eclectic. This word has intrigued me and I felt that I knew what it meant but to make sure I looked up the definition on Internet at Wiktionary.org and their definition is “Unrelated and unspecialized. Crossing a range or mixture of specialties”. Thus the birth of The Eclectic Cowboy.

 I don’t plan on writing these musings on regular basis especially not on a daily basis so you might get several in one week and then go a month or more before getting another one. But I hope that you enjoy them and are able to garner some truth out of them.

Vaya Con Dios
The Eclectic Cowboy