We survived our first high school rodeo....no....we more than survived....we thrived!
Lots to learn at this one. Being a newbie, there was so much information to try and catch. I think we got the gist of what might be going on.
The weather was just perfect. Warm days but not hot. Cool nights where you needed a sweatshirt. Everyone ate and slept well. These were some of our successes.
The wind blew quite a bit though. Guess that's northern Iowa for you?
Loved the windmills, those huge turban -type along the interstates. They are so amazing to watch. They look so lonely. There is something kind of solitaire and sad about them.
It's nice to have teen drivers. 4 people who can share the wheel. It made the 6 1/2 hour drive more tolerable for us all. We left at 10:00 pm and arrived at 4 am. Cole and Stu put our tent up in the dark and we all caught a few hours of precious sleep.
Stu and I got the biggest kick out of these people's morning rudeness. We'd say hi and wave and smile and they would just look at us and not say a word. Like, hello, we just said hi to you. Could you say hi back? Nope. Nothing. Really made us giggle. We vowed we would be polite, smiling, and happy regardless.
We're sure this is where God wants us currently. Can't say that I would have picked this for myself. We are such nobody's at these events. The people are often rough and hard to even get a smile out of.
We did make some new friends this weekend. A break-through. I'm used to making friends easily. These people have been hard to crack.
The amount of time we are able to spend together as a family is such a plus. One of the main reasons we took this adventure was because we'd all be together. Not one boy here playing basketball, another boy there rodeoing, yet another sibling taking soccer, ect.
In this sport we are all together. I love that. We talk, and laugh, and get to spend such precious time together as a family. I know all to soon that the older ones are going to be trying to fly the nest. I TREASURE this extra time with them on the weekends.
Tori and I had one critical oversight. Each of us thought that the other had packed Nevie's clothes. OOpppss..We ended up not having anything for her but the t-shirt and jeans that she wore up on Friday evening.
Lots of accidents this first time around. Not sure what the reason was or if there really was one. The stock was rough and tough. The bulls maybe a little too much so in my opinion.
One saddle bronc rider fell on his neck and separated some of his neck vertebrates. He laid out in the arena knocked out and unmoving long enough for people to begin to wonder if we had just watched a MAJOR accident. He was taken by ambulance, released, and rode the next day. Whoossh! I think I'd have loaded Cole in the car and we'd of been heading home if that had been us. I question if I'm tough enough for this sport. Guess this is where I lay down being tough enough myself and let God be glorified through me in this weakness.
A junior mini bull rider (yes, they can ride Junior High Rodeo in 6th grade) rode one of those big rank bulls. Rode it till the end. Upon his dismount he was kicked in the chest. He was taken by ambulance to the ER as well. Suspicions of broken ribs and a punctured lung. I never did hear an update from that young man. Makes me shudder. Tallis said, "Mom, promise me one thing. If I ever get hurt bad like Bailey just did, that you won't make me stop riding bulls. Please mom. That would be the worst ever."
Huh? I truly, truly, as a woman/mother just don't understand.
One bullfighter had his hamstring ripped by a bull stepping on him. Ambulance and ER for him.
The replacement bullfighter had a seizure right out in the arena. Shaking, puking, a major seizure. Stu said he would seizure too if he had to bullfight those bulls.
The bullfighters are just amazing to watch. The ones I mean, who really understand what their job is as a bullfighter, and who will honor it at all costs.
John 15:13 - Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
This scripture kept going through my mind again and again as I watched these men protect and save the riders at the cost of their own safety. What a beautiful picture of great love even if they didn't realize that they were portraying it. As a Christian, I could see it so clearly. I sat in the stands praising Jesus for His life that He laid down for me.
It was a good weekend for Cole. He covered both his rides and scored both times. His scores were low. They judge hard here! He'll need to score higher as he continues to ride but this weekend put him out in front with a nice points lead. It was a good way to start things out.
Cowboy Church on Sunday morning: Our speaker had chosen to have service outside in the bleachers by the arena. The morning was beautiful. The sun was hitting this large corn field to the south of the arena and made the entire horizon glitter like gold. Almost magical to look at. The sun felt warm on our faces and the breeze ruffled our hair....as if it were teasing.
Slowly, a small section of the bleachers filled with families coming to a Sunday gathering. It was so encouraging to see other believers, people who chose to get up early so as not to miss the chance to hear about our Savior and to gather on the Lord's Day, come together in this somewhat rough place.
The cowboy who was to speak brought us together in prayer and began to talk about his walk with Christ.
It was genuine.
It was not religious.
His eyes filled with tears, he had to blow his nose, and his chin shook with emotion as he spoke about laying down his own life to follow Christ.
He encouraged us to PLEASE don't forget God. He is our Creator. How could we forget?
He admonished us if people couldn't clearly see the light of Christ in our eyes and in our faces. He urged us to pray with each other and to take our walk seriously.
I loved it.
Afterwords, I seen his young son of about age 6 come up to him and say, "Dad, your chin was shaking again. I saw your chin shaking again."
His dad ruffled his son's hair and said, "Yes, son. When I talk about Jesus like that my chin often shakes."
Wow....I want my chin to shake when I talk about Christ too!! Know what I mean? It was so evident that this man was filled with such a desire to share what Christ had done for us all and for others to 'wake up' and live like they understood the sacrifice that was made.
Enough for now.
Next week is Larchwood. 7 1/2 hour drive.
Looking forward to what God has in store for us there.
So glad to hear you thrived! I don't remember N-IA being windy--KS, on the other hand. . . :D
ReplyDeleteGlad you're breaking into the crowd a little. I hear ya on the 'together' aspect--that's one thing we like about soccer in this little town. Everyone plays at once, all have practice and games in the same town at the same time so we just all go together.
Scary the accidents--and I'm with you as a woman/mother not understanding guys. giggle
Glad you were blessed and filled spiritually as well. One comment I must make though, even as I think I know what your connotation is, religious means "relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity". It's not really a bad thing. . .don't let yet another good word (ie: gay) be overtaken by a different definition. It sounds like the speaker certainly manifested faithful devotion to the Creator. :)
You are right in guessing that I truly didn't mean "relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity."
ReplyDeleteLOL! Only you would give me this wordy definition. I do appreciate your true friendship and they way in which we avoid offense and the ways in which you have stretched me and helped me to grow. I treasure that about you and our friendship.
You help me to communicate more clearly. Thank you! That is a very important skill. One of importance to a Christian so that God is correctly magnified.
So what then did I mean? What word would have been a better substitution? I am void of one word. Maybe that is where I have a problem. A flood of experiences washes over me when I try to think of one other word to replace 'religion.'
You know my heart well. What one word do you think I might have meant?
If not one word I could easily change the sentence to read: It was relaxed in structure.
I think I've adopted the definition of religion to say " relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged policy of order and structure at the cost of leaving out an ultimate reality or deity."
Thank you for this word check. I thought what I'd written was clear in meaning. Writing is not my strong point but I keep plugging away at it. I think it is very important and worth the effort and pain. LOL!
Thank you for sharpening me this morning. Love ya sister in Christ!
Giggle--why do you put up with me?! :) Please know I wasn't *correcting* you, as all your readers are going to know what you meant. You communicated quite clearly. . .
ReplyDeleteRather, I was commenting more on my sadness that a perfectly good word, with a perfectly lovely definition, is (in our current. . .cynical???. . .society) becoming a word with a negative connotation. I get so frustrated at how the world takes our words and twists them--you know how I can think too much!!
Nowadays the word 'religious' has more of a connotation of ritualistic, or habitual, or rigid and strict. . .and ultimately meaningless as opposed to a 'spiritual' experience.
Hmmm. . .I wonder how much of this could be the influence of free age and eastern belief systems and worldviews. Just thinking 'on screen'.
Yes, in rereading your comment, your definition is the way many people see the word religious. (excellent definition there, btw!) But in times past, it was not so (and even my original definition was just cut and pasted from an online dictionary, so dictionaries have not yet caught up with our modern connotation).
Is it possible that the world first viewed 'religious' as a negative word for people who would be so mindless (unable to think for themselves) as to be devoted to a Creator that the world doesn't believe in. . .and now that negative connotation has infiltrated christian circles so that the 'spiritual' christians apply that same disdain toward others they view as being stuck in a rut or traditional or following a ritualistic formula???
So, what other word could you have used?? I don't know. . .formal? scripted? relegated to a box? ritualistic? adhering to man-made rules? formulaic? I knew exactly what you meant, I'm just sad that the meaning of the word has changed.
(As a side note, it's cracking me up that we are having a conversation like this on your blog!!! Do we really want to let people have a peek at the crazy rabbit trails we chase in our real-life conversations??? giggle, giggle We must REALLY be missing one another! Oh, and I appreciate your true friendship and the way you always challenge and stretch me as well!!)
Just got back from Destry's violin lesson and I thought about this some more while driving! (lol) Can't seem to shut my brain off! I think another aspect we tend to associate with 'religious' is the formal robes, liturgies, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd I also think about it having a connotation of 'bound by a list of rules.' For example, people joking that something is "against my religion" when they don't want to do it--like cleaning windows or something.
Or even you do something and an observer says "I thought you were, like, really religious!" because they didn't think you would do or say that. Really religious as in faithfully devoted to God, or really religious as in devoted to a list of Dos and Don'ts??. . .
Seriously, my brain needs to shut off now! giggle
Is it sad that I enjoyed you and Shonya here as much as your post? I have heard a lot of Christians use "religious" pejoratively, and I've never given it much thought. I do think by "religious" you mean sacrificing genuineness - that was the comparison. Religiousness in this sense being Pharasitical and false, not really in tune with the Creator. Is there a word for that? And is Pharasitical a real word? :)
ReplyDeleteOh how I love you back, Amanda.
ReplyDeletePharasitical.
I like how it sounds.
Do you think that our brains...think....too much??
Is that possible? God made us thoughtful!
ReplyDeleteGiggle, giggle, giggle.
ReplyDeletePejorative--now, that's a word not just everybody uses!! :) But it's perfect in this instance. I, for one, loved the conversation and thought-process. Glad you don't think we are totally crazy now, Amanda! chuckle I love talking with Misti--she always challenges me to self-examination. My iron-sharpening-iron friend! ;)