running the race of life

Hope—There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great no tonic so powerful as the expectation of something better tomorrow! And God is our hope.

We are all running the race of life, we are doing it right now. How is the race going for you? Do you feel like you are winning the race or losing the race? They (i.e. who ever they are) always say--It’s a long race sooo hang in there. In the poem Don’t Quit by Edgar Albert Guest it says—"Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt, and when you never can tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems afar; so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem worst, you must not quit.”

I want to tell you a personal story about the running the race of life. I meet Heather and her son Raymond at Costco eating a hot dog while sharing a table. Heather and her husband work at the Flying H Youth Ranch about 40 miles from Yakima in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a beautiful setting on 500 acres. Not a cattle ranch but they do have cattle. It’s a faith-based ranch that works with troubled boys between the ages of 14 and 18 who have many pretty serious problems of running the race of life (i.e. some criminal and some domestic or some of just getting along in life). I was very intrigued. I asked some questions and asked if Jeanne and I could come and visit the ranch, so we set up an appointment.

The boys come from all over the country and are sent by their parents who have to pay for the 18 months of being there (i.e. it’s a private ranch receiving no money from the government). The ranch is a certified school for their education and there is a mentor with the boys 24-7. They are taught how to act and behave by example and by rules and understanding. They are taught a belief in God and the Bible. The ranch has many opportunities in a wide ranch of activities. It is quite a challenge to help the boys with a change of their life, but it has a very high success rate. Pretty impressive, my opinion. They have some full-time staff who must raise their own financial salary for support like missionaries do. There are many volunteers from a wide range of abilities and interests who help the ranch in the changing of these boys. Again, very impressive! They currently have 11 boys at the ranch and have been doing this since1962 I think.

We asked Heather and her husband Caleb, what are the keys in changing these boys’ attitudes. First of all and most important, they have to want to change, if they don’t want to change they will not change; it’s impossible. To change their attitude is basically believing in God. They have to accept God and let God change them, we can’t!  We can be a big influence by our mentoring and teaching Jesus, but still God has to change them. Soooo a good prayer for us for these boys and for anyone, is to pray that they will accept God and let God change their heart. That is really a simple but a good prayer. Remember, these boys are at the end of the rope; society and their parents are at the” giving up point” for these boys. They might not ever make it in life in the way they have been running their race of life; maybe they might be incarcerated for life if they don’t change now. This isn’t a problem of having a few pimples folks, this is serious. If you have any interest in The Flying H Ranch, go to their web site.

Change is very hard; we all know that. We have a hard time changing one little habit in our life it seems. Look around, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Sooooo, if these boys can change their major attitudes (i.e. a change that will affect them for the rest of their life), what a blessing it would be for them. Incredible and unbelievable. To me, that is really exciting!

Esther of Grace, who is a talented, local guest writer for It's Saturday, says--Lead, follow, or get out of the way. This is my husband’s motto which he shared with me when we were first married and were attempting to make dinner together, at the same time, in our very small kitchen. We didn’t quite have a rhythm yet, bumping into each other as we bustled around the kitchen, cutting up this, stir-frying that. Me trying to clean up the spills, him trying to drain the pasta. We have figured out we work best, 20 years later and in that very same very small kitchen, when only one of us is in the kitchen at a time. We both like to cook, we both like to lead and we both get in each other’s way. So, this arrangement we’ve grown accustomed to has worked quite well for us. -- Life is filled with many opportunities to use our gifts, explore our passions, serve one another, and learn something new along the way. We humble ourselves, stepping aside to allow someone the space to shine. We get out of our comfort zones by tacking a new project or taking a new approach to the task at hand. I like being part of a team - I like learning from others. I can’t imagine life without those two elements. So, lead, follow, or get out of the way… as much as I’ve enjoyed leading, I’m finding I really appreciate being able to step out of the way and finding something new to do. Life is grand! 

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyDeceasedFriend Jean said—Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.