This was not good. 

First chase, continued:

My horse backed away, afraid of being so close.  The pony started to pull away towards the cliff, not wanting anything to do with my horse, me or that yelling guy on the other horse.   With my left hand I kept a tight rein on my horse and kept pulling to the right to follow the pony and not get tangled up even more.  We kept heading to the cliff, and I was having a picture flashing in front of me of the three of us going over that thing and landing in a heap of ten thrashing legs, eight thrashing hooves about three quarters of a ton of horses and me in the middle of them.  I got a hold of the horn on the pony’s saddle while at the same time trying to work the reins off it.  By now both the horse and the pony realized they were snagged together and neither liked it, much.  It was getting to be rather exciting.

I finally managed to get the reins off, let the horn go and away we went, again.  However, the pony had had enough and decided to head towards the barn.  He quietly stayed between us as we herded him home. 

The whole adventure lasted about 30 to 45 minutes, but, we were done for the day.  We got the tack off the horses and brushed them down.  Vicki and I then went on home.

We no more than got through the door at home, when Vicki told everyone about her ride.  Carla’s Mom had come up here to help her with Ken, who had been born a couple days before and was just home from the hospital.  As Vicki was telling her story with glee, I looked over at Mom, and the look she gave me was one of incredulous disbelief, among other things.  She didn’t say anything, but, then, she didn’t have to, her looks said it all.

After Vicki had completed her story, she then turned, looked at me and said, “Okay, Dad, it’s your turn.”

The next day, my arms, particularly my right one, were extremely sore.  It took me a while to figure it out; it was from having to “guide” that horse around the trees and herding that stupid pony – not to mention my holding the saddle accoutrements.  By the time we were done my horse had actually started to figure it out.  But, by then the pony was pretty docile and my arms pretty tired.   

As a side note, when I shared this story with Vicki several years later, she reminded me it didn’t end there.  After we got back to the barn Dennis tethered the pony to a long lead rope.  He then made him go around and around in a circle until the pony could hardly stand.  He then had Vicki get on the pony to ride him.  Vicki said she recalled not wanting to do it, because the pony was so tired.  However, Dennis convinced her it was for the pony’s sake, it was necessary so he learned a lesson in obedience. 

While not coming right out and saying it to her, it was also reinforcement for her, she never feared getting back on a horse. She remembers that ride was nowhere near as much fun as the first one. 

For the first time she told me that Mickey had been really great.  On the ride back to the barn they talked a lot, mostly about horses, but, it was a very positive experience.  This happened well over 30 years ago and Vicki says she can’t believe how much she remembers, having been only 5 years old.  When I mentioned that I had forgotten the extra work out for the pony, she pointed out that for me “it wasn’t a life lesson.”

I had Sunday off and went back to work Sunday night at mid-night.  Dennis had worked the night before, so everyone had heard of our chase, it was a great story, one that we all had a good laugh over.  We didn’t know then, that around 0230 that morning, Dennis and I would have our second chase (and story) in a week.  This chase was on duty, a ‘little’ faster, and with a ‘little’ more danger.

Deuteronomy 7:9-12  Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

¹⁰ And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

¹¹ Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

¹² Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

What would earth have been like had Adam not sinned?  Would God have allowed satan free reign in the world or would He have banished him forever?

Would man be free of sin, sorrow, pain?  Would man have been able to walk anywhere in the world without fear?  Would man have thrived without the death of animals or his fellow man?

Would man have no greed, no jealousy and live in a Utopia where everyone is happy and walking with God in Joy?

We can paint a picture of what if’s, but it did not happen, so the questions are mute.

God gave man many opportunities to live for Him.  He started over with Noah and his family – yet people did not learn from the lesson of the flood.  They continued – indeed continues, to sin against God and fail to accept His commandments and precepts.

Moses is reminding the people of the many blessings God has promised them.  He has reminded them of their past, and the many times they failed God and actually denied the deity of God by worshiping a golden calf.  He pointed out to them how God had forgiven them, and provided for them the last 40 years as they wandered in the wilderness.

He also reminded them that God will not accept sinful behavior and when He encounters it He will eventually punish it – and they saw how severely He will do so, even to opening the earth to swallow up sinners and then closing it back over them to show His anger.

The Hebrews, the Jewish people, were His chosen people – above all other nations on this earth, yet they sinned against Him within days of professing their love for Him – many times over.

Deuteronomy 9:24-26  Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ Thus I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the Lord had said he would destroy you.

²⁶ I prayed therefore unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

Moses reminded them of how he had to plead to God for their deliverance when God was ready to destroy them.  How he fasted and entreated God for forty days and nights, begging Him not to cast a final judgment on them – and he had to do that more than once.

His prayers and demeanor were earnest, humbling himself for God’s people.  Did he change God’s mind, or just proved himself to God as the mediator for His people – I believe the latter.

God wanted to bless these people, raise them up above all other nations and He still does to this day, yet they sinned and were far from worthy of His forgiveness. 

God wants His people to bow before Him, worship Him and acknowledge His rightful place.  As Moses talked to the people he wanted to remind them that they needed to remember who God is and what He accomplished, and by His covenant would accomplish for them.

Moses knew that soon his life would be over.  The people would cross over Jordan into the Promised Land without him.  He wanted to remind them of God’s grace during their time in the wilderness and the promise of further blessings IF they submit their lives to Him and obey Him.

As I read Deuteronomy I see a greater leader, whose time has come, pleading for his people to listen to Him as He was submitting to the will of God.  Pleading for them to turn their eyes wholly on God and obey Him; pleading that they change from the course of the past and obey God in all things.  Yet, knowing that they had turned from God many times, and they were likely to do so again.  How heart breaking that had to be for Moses.

What would the world be like had they done what God wanted them to do?  Would they have eventually driven out the evil from this world and brought a time of peace and freedom from sin?

Would they have, as they had in the 40 years of wandering, been in good health, walking on feet that were never swollen and in clothes that never wore out?  Their every need met – they were given manna from heaven and water from stones to keep them nourished as they wandered; God promised them milk and honey, fruit from trees they did not plant indeed a land that overflowed with abundance.  Would it have continued unabated for all mankind?

We can paint a picture of what if’s, but it did not happen, so the questions are mute.

The one thing that struck me in these verses today was the faithfulness and dedication Moses gave to God in leading these people.  His speech to them in Deuteronomy is a heart wrenching history lesson of God’s Grace and their failures; a heart wrenching plea for them to listen to him and obey God.

He was the mediator between God and His people.  He suffered for them.  He prayed and fasted for them.  He stood before God in front of His people and asked Him not to destroy them – many many times. 

He was the leader of millions of souls, hundreds of thousands of fighting men, yet He never took on the mantle of a King.  Moses was a servant of God and humbly did as God directed Him.

He talked with God, probably almost continually, day in and day out.  Today we call it prayer.

What Moses did for the Jews, Christ does for us.

As the people asked and received guidance from Moses’ prayers to God, we receive from Jesus.

What God wanted from the Jews, He wants from all mankind as Christ opened up the door for the rest of us.

The blessings He promised the Jews, He wishes to bestow on all mankind.

1 Timothy 2:4-6 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

⁶ Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

God wants to give those things to us; yet the world rejects Him and His promises.

There are still people that can be reached; there are still people in the world that hunger for the truth. 

AND God has not given up on them.

What He needs of us is a commitment to prayer and a faithful witness to others.

We need to take seriously our responsibilities to God, just as Moses did.  We need to stand in the gap helping our Lord and Savior, showing that we believe that God will heal our land and our people.

We need to humble ourselves before God, meekly listening to Him in submission to His Will and obey Him.  Jesus tells us it is possible for His followers to make a difference in this world.

We but need to listen and obey.

Mark 11:22-24   And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

²³ For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

²⁴ Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

As Moses’ passion and compassion for God’s people was shown in his pleadings in Deuteronomy, so must we have a full heart and passion and compassion for the lost in this world; for the terror and suffering that is being perpetrated on the Jews and Christians, and for those that are genuinely searching for a love only God can give.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again