Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Cowboy Code, What is yours?
The Sun is setting to the west in Oklahoma sky in late September, the clouds are red and orange. Cowboys and Cowgirls are saddling horses to get ready for the evenings performance. Fans have come from all around to see this crazy thing they call rodeo. The season is coming to an end, some lay everything on the line to make it to the big dance in Vegas. Others are there to get closer to the Gold Buckle.
This weekend I will celebrate my two year old birthday, that is of becoming a bull dogger. I remember it as if it was yesterday. Nothing like jumping a steer for the first time. Now two years later I love it more than ever, but I sometimes wonder what if. What if I can never jump another steer, what if I never win another rodeo, what if I never make it to the NFR, what if I never win a Gold Buckle, What if..... Its the what if in our lives that hold us back from dreams sometimes. It has been a very hard semester for me at college, I haven`t be able to rodeo at all, my horses haven`t been healthy for part of it. I wonder what is my next step in rodeo sometimes, will I ever get to back in the box at the Thomas & Mack? I believe that it is ever Cowboys dream to make it to the big show. Few will make it to the big dance however. There are 300 Steer Wrestlers, that compete enough in the PRCA in order to make it to the NFR. Only 15 go, that means that in ever 100, 5 will go. That means that you have to out haul, win, practice, workout, and so much more. Than the other 95% of your hundred. Sound easy enough right? I`ll let you know when I make the finals.
If you haven`t ever heard of www.iamsecond.com then you really need to go look at it. Men and women that have made a difference in America tell their stories. Guys like Trevor Brazile, Stephen Baldwin, Mike Huckabee, Toney Dungy, and others share their stories. I would say that I mostly relate to Trevor Brazile`s video, being a cowboy and all. Trevor talks about the "Cowboy Code and the Cowboy Way" in his video, a code that I can Completely relate with. Cowboys are just not another group of before we live to be a Cowboy day in and day out. We respect ourselves, others, and our competitors. It is not just a sport or a job it is a way of life.
I have played alot of different sports in my life from basketball to football and everything in between. I believe that rodeo is the only sport that competitors cheer on each other. Rodeo is also the only sport that all the competitors are just one big happy family. I remember my first rodeo season realizing that every body cares about how you do and will do anything in the world to help you. I was shocked to find that an even closer family is the bulldoggers. I didn`t start doggin till half way through my junior year and every body was there to help. If it was helping me with my run to make myself better, or a horse to ride. I was reminded of that close family when I got to college I got phone calls from buddies back in Florida. They told me that I needed to come to the Perry, Georgia for the Southeastern Showdown, because nobody could fill my goofy boots!!! The "Cowboy Code" is even more important to bulldoggers.
Dad and I at my first State Finals. You rock Dad.
So on Thanksgiving I thought to myself and Thanked God not just for a loving and Godly family, but also for being a Cowboy and living by HIS word and the "Cowboy Code."
Check out Trevor Brazile`s Video: http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Trevor_Brazile/
This weekend I will celebrate my two year old birthday, that is of becoming a bull dogger. I remember it as if it was yesterday. Nothing like jumping a steer for the first time. Now two years later I love it more than ever, but I sometimes wonder what if. What if I can never jump another steer, what if I never win another rodeo, what if I never make it to the NFR, what if I never win a Gold Buckle, What if..... Its the what if in our lives that hold us back from dreams sometimes. It has been a very hard semester for me at college, I haven`t be able to rodeo at all, my horses haven`t been healthy for part of it. I wonder what is my next step in rodeo sometimes, will I ever get to back in the box at the Thomas & Mack? I believe that it is ever Cowboys dream to make it to the big show. Few will make it to the big dance however. There are 300 Steer Wrestlers, that compete enough in the PRCA in order to make it to the NFR. Only 15 go, that means that in ever 100, 5 will go. That means that you have to out haul, win, practice, workout, and so much more. Than the other 95% of your hundred. Sound easy enough right? I`ll let you know when I make the finals.
If you haven`t ever heard of www.iamsecond.com then you really need to go look at it. Men and women that have made a difference in America tell their stories. Guys like Trevor Brazile, Stephen Baldwin, Mike Huckabee, Toney Dungy, and others share their stories. I would say that I mostly relate to Trevor Brazile`s video, being a cowboy and all. Trevor talks about the "Cowboy Code and the Cowboy Way" in his video, a code that I can Completely relate with. Cowboys are just not another group of before we live to be a Cowboy day in and day out. We respect ourselves, others, and our competitors. It is not just a sport or a job it is a way of life.
I have played alot of different sports in my life from basketball to football and everything in between. I believe that rodeo is the only sport that competitors cheer on each other. Rodeo is also the only sport that all the competitors are just one big happy family. I remember my first rodeo season realizing that every body cares about how you do and will do anything in the world to help you. I was shocked to find that an even closer family is the bulldoggers. I didn`t start doggin till half way through my junior year and every body was there to help. If it was helping me with my run to make myself better, or a horse to ride. I was reminded of that close family when I got to college I got phone calls from buddies back in Florida. They told me that I needed to come to the Perry, Georgia for the Southeastern Showdown, because nobody could fill my goofy boots!!! The "Cowboy Code" is even more important to bulldoggers.
Dad and I at my first State Finals. You rock Dad.
So on Thanksgiving I thought to myself and Thanked God not just for a loving and Godly family, but also for being a Cowboy and living by HIS word and the "Cowboy Code."
Check out Trevor Brazile`s Video: http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Trevor_Brazile/
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cowboy Bud
A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in California when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni(R) suit, Gucci(R) shoes, RayBan(R) sunglasses and YSL(R) tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell(R) notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3(R) cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on
the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on
his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop(R) and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot(R) that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL(R) database through an ODBC connected Excel(R) spreadsheet with
email on his Blackberry(R) and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet(R) printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have
exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, Okay, why not?"
"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter
than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my dog.
The driver, a young man in a Brioni(R) suit, Gucci(R) shoes, RayBan(R) sunglasses and YSL(R) tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"
Bud looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell(R) notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3(R) cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on
the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on
his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop(R) and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany.
Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot(R) that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL(R) database through an ODBC connected Excel(R) spreadsheet with
email on his Blackberry(R) and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet(R) printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have
exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bud.
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, Okay, why not?"
"You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says Bud.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter
than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.
Now give me back my dog.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." by John Wayne
My last week has been a struggle, sleep was not in my vocabulary and apparently it is right now either while I am home. I have taken a lot of test this week and turned in a few papers this past week, so I am looking forward to getting my grades back when I return from thanksgiving! I will be home for right at a week returning to Arkansas on my birthday. I have decided that while I am home it is all homework and not much of anything that takes to much energy. Although, I know mom will pass out a few chores in the morning and friends will be around here till all hours of the night, Life will be all good this week as we celebrate Thanksgiving. As I started my way home it wasn`t bad. When Cody my roommate dropped me of at the Monroe,LA airport, I had to go in and check to see if I was at the right place! It was small to say the least. With the whole building being able to fit on a football field it was a quick walk to the one gate in the terminal. There was a man behind me as I went through the good ole` TSA check point, there was a man behind that was making me a little nervous. No, we wasn`t from Iraq or wasn`t a Muslim. He was an African-American in his mid 20`s, in need of a butt whooping. He started by cursing his grandma and everyone around him. While even almost not allowed on the plane because of it. As we were boarding a woman and her two kids where in front of me, the mom turned to me and asked that if the crazy black man sat next to her or her kids if I would trade with them. I realize that she did not want to have to face a crazy man or her kids have to do it. But I think she could have choosen at least somebody with a few more steaks in there belly. Lucky, enough we all didnt have to sit next to the crazy man, just behind him. I came home thinking about courage, as John Wayne put it "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." This made me think about Ezra 10:4 "Rise up; this matter is in your hands. We will support you, so take courage and do it.” I don`t think it could have been said any easier kinda like the Nike slogan "Just Do It." I know that there are things that I want to do right now in my life so bad, but just cant. Look at what Ezra has to say and take another look, what about now? Giving it a fighting chance. If your like me its your passion and your hungry without it.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Chain of Love
Most of my time that I spend at work is with a set of head phones on, simply jamming out to what ever radio station I can pick up. At home I love it because you can listen to Tampa radio station when your in Cocoa. Monticello, Ar is a whole different ball came, there aren`t more than a few stations to choose from and they rarely ever come in clear. However, my attention was brought to Clay Walkers song Chain of Love. As it came on the radio, I stopped for a brief moment. I am sure that I have heard this song before, it just has never hit me the way it did today. If you take a close listen to it, can you not totally relate this to our lives as Christians? Or what about just being a good ole` Southern person? One of the first things that came to my mind when I heard this song was a time when my brother Ben and I were trying to get my first ever calf crop of there Mommas. As we pulled up to the gate we found portable Classrooms in the way (It was right next to school,) Our top of the line 1973 A1 horse trailer wouldn`t make it in. Off on foot we went the first calf was easy, calf number to was caught down in the pond. It was Spring in Central Florida and very dry. While Ben backed the truck done the side of the pond I was holding the calf. Our goal was to get the calf in the bed of the truck simple right? Sure, minus the fact that we found the only mud whole within fifty miles of there. We called everybody we knew that lived close. All were out of town, but willing to come get us any way. A friend of ours John was way on the other side of the county when we called, but jumped in his truck to come get us out. It took a hard pull, but he got us out. We were so grateful that we didn`t have to call dad and tell him that we were stuck in mud, while there was a drought going on. Needless to say as Christians we should look at Clay Walkers song, because we can learn that lending a helping hand to some one may lead to a blessing of more than we can imagine. Or what about giving a helping hand even though we may never meet that person again? Could we have an opportunity to share the love of Christ? As Christians even though we may not want to or are afraid to we need to steep out of our comfort zone and reach out to others. For God the Farther calls us to!
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