From the Home Place

November 20, 2025

As I’ve mentioned before, I spent a lot of time at my uncle Clayton’s place during my younger years. On this particular day he sent me out to check the water, salt and cattle in the north pasture. He instructed me to keep a sharp eye on Billy, the spotted horse that I was now “old enough” to ride. I must have been around eight or nine years old at the time.

Billy was sure enough a good horse, he was just a tad bit mischievous. It was a good idea to not be daydreaming while riding Billy, or he would suddenly shy sideways leaving his rider on the ground. Billy was also known to attempt to drag his cowpoke off on a tree branch, or anything else he could do to leave rider behind while he ran back to the barn.

So, Billy and I sat off on our first solo adventure. I was riding a saddle that was way too big for me, as such the stirrups didn’t come close to fitting my short legs. A situation I was used to because I didn’t have a saddle that fit me at home either. Well, we came to the gate, and I had to get off of Billy to open it. The dismount was without incidence; I was able to get the gate open (it was a rather loose gate) but now it was time to get back on.

I held the reign as tight as I could and finally pulled my foot up to the stirrup, and then grunting and pulling for all that I was worth, I clawed myself into the saddle. The problem was that the whole time I was trying to mount my might steed, he was walking toward a grove of trees that was in the pasture we had just entered.

I got into the saddle just in time to start pulling on the off-side reign, commanding Billy to stop! It was no use; Billy had the bit locked in his teeth and was in full control of our travel plans. Into the grove of trees we went, and I started ducking branches. One after another they came crashing at me until finally a large branch dethroned me to the turf. When I gathered my wits, all I could see was Billy’s tail flashing through the trees, headed for the barn.

You see my friends, sometimes life is like that horse. It seems to grab the bit and off we go. I’ve often said, “sometimes life just happens to us.” We don’t have much, if any control, of what takes place and the next thing you know, we are dethroned.

Over my years of walking with God, I have found it best to not ask “Why?” when life grabs the bit and runs off with me, instead I’ve learned to ask Him, “Lord, what are you wanting to teach me during this event?” Chew on this one, the “Why?” question is almost to blame God for my circumstances, it’s like asking “God why did you allow this to happen to me?”

But you see, if we believe that God is sovereignly in control all of time, which He definitely is, then to question why is close to being defiant. Instead, we should accept what is happening and ask “What?” instead of “Why?”. “Lord, what are You wanting me to learn in this situation?” Simple truth, the Holy Spirit is always wanting us to learn something about ourselves, or something about Himself. Thus, He often allows uncomfortable circumstances to take place within our lives so that we will stop and ask, “What are You wanting me to learn?”

The fact is that there are plenty of times when Satan is the mastermind behind our difficult situations. So then, the “What?” question is answered with God wanting us to learn how to use His power to stand against our enemy. See how much easier that was than spending the rest of our day attempting to figure out the “Why?”

On the day we were talking about earlier, that is exactly what I had to figure out. I walked the half mile back to the barn, gathered Mr. Billy up again and off we went to check cattle. Oh ya, I had collected a two-foot-long little branch that had all of the leaves off of it. Now when Billy tried any of his tricks, I could spank his spotted behind. From that day on, Billy and I were able to accomplish any task we were sent on.

Celebrating the victories with you, Neal