"Old Hand"

 I watch that old ranch rodeo,

The wild cow milking, quite a show,

A ropin,’ ridin’, there they go,

And glad I was a part,

With ranch life had my start.

I watch the timed events and say,

They do it fast to earn their pay,

To team or trip or tie-down stay,

And think the best we did,

Was catch the ones that hid.

The way back thens, remember whens,

Those real good hands were all my friends,

But now they’re gone and should have beens,

Aren’t worth the time to tell,

Just got up when we fell.

Now sometimes my memory,

Is filled with something yet to be,

I still can stretch a coil, you see,

Though older by the day,

It still might be okay.

To catch and saddle old man broke,

Recall advice that once was spoke,

And show all the city folk,

What old hands still can do,

Deliberate, still on cue.

Oh well, we’ll see what happens next,

Each day for God, what He expects,

Is all that matters, we respect,

His lead in everything,

Our cowboy up we bring.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful…” (2 Timothy 4:7, NLT)

Paul wrote these words to Timothy near the end of his life. He knew it was almost over, and that he planned to finish strong. That’s what we all want to do- stay faithful to the end and accomplish what God has called us to do. What remains of your life’s ministry? You may or may not know. The older we get the more we realize the diminishing window of opportunity. We acknowledge our own mortality and admit we don’t have the energy of youth. Yet, we have the value of lessons learned and life experience, and if we’re correctly assessing things, see that we aren’t finished until God says so. He will have the final say, and we can trust Him.

Lord, help us to finish strong, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Shawn Cameron, shawncameron.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Shawn, and God bless you.