"Gather"

The darkness of the morning,

Before the dawn’s first light,

Signals day is coming,

And the ending of the night.

And in the dark we saddled,

There was little that was said,

On the way to gather cattle,

Catch ‘em out close to their bed.

And in the morning coolness,

Hear the jingle of a spur,

Or the creak of saddle leather,

‘Fore the day begins to stir.

And then ride to ‘em quiet,

You don’t want to make much noise,

And they know how to do it,

It’s what made ‘em horseback boys.

And I’m thankful for those memories,

And scarce a daybreak comes,

That I don’t recall those gathers,

Penning cattle, mornin’ runs.

And poppin’ brush for crazies,

Herd-quitters gone like deer,

And build that loop so quickly,

So to catch him when he’s near.

I once rode with cowboys,

And sometimes I still do,

The stories bring a chuckle,

And mostly they are true.

But one thing I will tell you,

It took some time to know,

And that was as a cowboy,

You could to Jesus go.

And He would give His blessing,

If you put in Him your trust,

And then all of your ridin’,

Leaves the devil in the dust.

The circle was a far one,

That brought me to the dawn,

Of a cowboy lifestyle,

That honors God alone.

And now when day is breaking,

I start it with a prayer,

No matter where the gather,

The Good Lord’s always there.

“I can never escape from Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your presence!” (Psalm 139:7, NLT)

Where is the Lord? We think of Him as existing in an unseen dimension we call heaven. There are many scripture passages that refer to this reality. But we also recognize that God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. But how can this be true? It is true because of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is that part of God’s presence that interacts in this time-space dimension. God is enthroned in heaven but He is also with us, and we can never escape His presence in our lives. In addition He comes to live within us when we turn to Jesus and surrender to Him. He then is both with us and in us. He is the great energizer of our lives!

Lord, help us to recognize Your presence, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bill Anton, used by permission. Thanks, Bill, and God bless you.