"Heel Loop"

I stood up in my stirrups,

And tossed away my twine,

Jerked slack, downed my dallies,

And thought it would be fine,

With that crazy, bovine heifer,

We couldn’t keep en-fenced,

But then she turned back on me,

With horns she was incensed.

She raked my horse and bellered,

He pitched and tried to buck,

But I held onto my dallies,

And hoped for better luck.

And then along came Linwood,

And laid a good heel trap,

Roped her by the hind legs,

And that, my friend, was that.

My mind gets full of memories,

Of times we did these things,

We often talk about it,

More lately, so it seems.

‘Cause we are no more rookies,

Though we still rope and catch,

The trail has slowed us down some,

I bought a new night latch.

And not ashamed to tell you,

That I’m not too proud to grab,

Whatever that I have to,

To save this old man flab.

I love to get a-horseback,

And plan to till I die,

Least that’s what I pray for,

And, by God, I’ll try.

So let’s go catch a heifer,

But more careful than before,

Just get that heel loop quicker,

So she can’t fight no more.

“Once I was young and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned…” (Psalm 37:25, NLT)

The Lord comes to our rescue! That’s who He is and what He does. Others come and go, but He will never leave us or abandon us. The Psalmist admitted his age, and testified to God’s faithful provision. The things we did as younger folk might have been on the reckless side. Now that we’ve aged, we’ve become more deliberate and careful. All that is well and good, but the bottom line is we all need the Lord to take care of us. The older we get the more we realize it. Hopefully.

Lord, help us rely on You at every age, in Jesus’ name.

Art by MIke Capron, mikecapron.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mike, and God bless you.