No Borders?

No Safety. 

"He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with the finest of the wheat."

(Psalm 147: 14)

One of the primary jobs of a rancher is to keep his livestock and animals safe. A rancher keeps his animals safe by building fences and borders. These fences and borders are not built to deny his animals their freedom, but to keep their natural enemies out.

Oftentimes when people hear the words "fences" or  "borders" they think of loss of freedom. I think one's perspective of freedom all depends on which side of the fence/border you're on! Before we talk about freedom, the kind of freedom that so many people have been blessed with, let's talk first about horses and the freedom they want most - the freedom from danger. Most people know that horses are prey animals, and that puts them pretty high up on the food chain for predators. When predators are really hungry, they often become emboldened in their behavior, crossing fences/borders and perhaps entering habitats they would normally stay away from. Such was the case a few years ago when by chance I happened to notice a coyote standing in my horse's fenced pasture looking for its next meal. I was standing in the pole barn shoveling pine stall shavings into large rubber-like buckets when suddenly I heard my horse, Samson, begin to snort loudly. As I looked out at the pasture to see what the commotion was all about, I could hardly believe my eyes.

Recognizing trouble, my horses, Montana and Lil' Bit, were high-tailing it to the far end of the fenced pasture. But Samson stood perfectly still as if he was holding his ground, intent on protecting his herd mates and the land that he knew belonged to him. And that's when I spotted the enemy. No more than 20 feet in front of Samson stood a hungry-looking coyote with it's haunches low to the ground, and ready to spring into action. It was obvious to me that someone had forgotten to give this interloper the memo, "good fences make good neighbors", and he had foolishly crossed over the border into what I considered sacred territory - my horse's pasture. 

Every cowgirl worth her salt should own at least one good hat, one good dependable horse, and be handy with fire power!  

Make no mistake about it, there are three things I'm never without here on the ranch. One, of course, is a good horse. The other two things are a good hat and good fire power. When it came to this fence-climbing, border-hopping coyote, it was clearly time to get my inner-redneck cowgirl on and teach him a lesson. Taking aim, I put my gun sights directly on the trespasser and fired the first warning shot. He ran a short distance only to turn around in the middle of the pasture and stare at me. It was unusual behavior, even for a sneaky coyote. Again, I fired my gun, and again, he ran a few feet, stopped and just stared. It was obvious, he wasn't going to give up easily. Neither was I. On my third shot, I aimed to kill. 

This time, the coyote ran as fast as he could with hair flying, escaping within an inch of his life. From a distance, I watched as he quickly crouched beneath the fence line and ran off into the woods and back to where he came from. At least for now, the battle was over. I looked at my horses who were now safely grazing their land surrounded by bordered fence lines. Borders that were not erected to take away their freedom, but rather to keep them safe from outside dangers and natural enemies. Borders that surrounded the land I had blessed and purposefully given to them. Borders that would protect them as long as they belonged to me.

A FREE NATION WITH  BORDERS

"No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

(Isaiah 60: 18) 

One of the biggest misconceptions is that freedom is free. That simply isn't true. Someone always pays the price. Consider the soldiers who fought in America's Civil War. If those soldiers had not been willing to march across the battlefields and lay down their life for a greater cause, then countless thousands would have continued to live their life in absolute slavery, having never been granted the simple pleasure that comes from the power of knowing one is free. Again, is freedom free? Never. Consider Christ's death. If Christ had not endured the physical, emotional, and spiritual punishment of our sins as He hung upon the old rugged cross, then we would not have gained the freedom of our salvation. And without Christ's payment in full for our freedom, even the promise of heaven would be unattainable for you and me.

EVEN HEAVEN HAS

BORDERS

"The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.  The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement which the angel was using."

(Revelation 21: 15 - 17) 

How can we know about heaven? The Designer and the Creator has told us many things about heaven in His Word. We not only know that the streets are pure gold, but we know that there is much activity and fellowship. But one of the things we don't often think about is the borders of heaven. If you study the scriptures, you'll find that heaven actually has true dimensions, a measurable size, and a defined boundary.

According to scripture, heaven is 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide as it is long. We also know that heaven has fortified walls that are 144 cubits thick. To put this into modern day measurements, heaven is shaped like a cube and approximately 1500 miles in height. To put that number into perspective, consider that most commercial airlines only fly to an altitude of 7 or 8 miles! Finally, from these measurements, we can deduce that heaven has the equivalent of over 2,250,000 square miles of land mass. The base of heaven would cover approximately two-thirds of the entire land mass of the U.S. But the most important feature of heaven is that all must enter through the gate (Jesus). You see, heaven is a kingdom with borders.

God's Word says that you and I must be born-again to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Such is the requirement for entering heaven. So, does God believe in borders? The answer is yes. In fact, God is the original architect of well-defined borders. His borders were designed with you and me in mind. And they were designed with freedom in mind. Freedom from our enemies - freedom from fear, and yes, freedom from sin and death. The kind of freedom that can only be found in Him. 

HAPPY FALL-HARVEST TIME! 

From Sophie, and everyone at our house, we wish you a blessed and delightful Fall-Harvest time!

 OLD COWGIRLS

AND

HORSES

A blog/diary of my life with horses, and a few other adventures along the way.

Every season is filled with its own wonder and beauty.

Impending cold weather always means extra work here at what I lovingly call our "funny farm". Such was the case this morning as my husband, Kim, and I stood in the horse's run-in shed putting up new metal hay feeders in anticipation of winter. Although it's still fall, the air was quite nippy and I soon realized I had forgotten my jacket. I'm a summer girl by nature, and don't relish much at all about cold weather. I especially don't like snow! I think the white stuff lost all its appeal once it no longer meant "staying home from school". Now, many moons later, it simply meant more layers of sweat shirts and long underwear, and inevitably, more work to do on the farm. Although the really cold stuff hadn't arrived yet, such were my thoughts this morning as I stood shivering in my boots, and trying to hang on to the cold metal hay racks while Kim hammered away. "What's wrong with you?" my husband asked. "I'm freezing, that's what's wrong with me!"  I snapped. "How can you be cold? It's only 60 degrees!" he replied. Men, men, men. Why do we have to explain everything to them? Finally, I  answered, "Don't worry about it. I can be cold if I want to!"  

A few minutes later, the metal racks were

securely hung. I filled each one with fresh hay and then I called the horses to come and check out our handiwork. One by one, they came and explored the new bounty, and soon their heads were buried in the sweet smell of harvested hay as they munched contentedly. My thoughts raced back to summer when the days had been long, and the evenings just cool enough for a night ride. How I longed for more warm days, more sunshine, more summer. Then, suddenly, a cool breeze whisked past my face and I noticed the tree branches that lined the pasture rustling in the wind. The leaves were a myriad of red and orange, yellow and gold, and the entire woods seemed to be alive with vibrant color that at once floated in the air only to land on the ground like feathers softly covering the earth. For a moment, I forgot about the loss of summer. It was now the time of harvest, and it was beautiful. From now on, I determined that I would give thanks for "every season", especially fall. Oh yeah, and next time I will remember to bring my jacket when I go out to work on the funny farm!  

 Q & A

Each month I receive emails filled with interesting and great questions. In this segment of our newsletter, I will share some of the special emails I've received. All names have been changed

to protect the individual's privacy. 

Hello Susan and Kim, Know you probably have lots of folks writing you but I just read your email and stopping by to say hellooo! Like lil Sophie - she looks like she began getting comfortable on your horse in the latter pictures. Sweet! I saw under the Sophie pics about a faith ride. What is this all about? I'm curious but yet excited both! I feel as if I've been running a faith marathon in the past few years!!! Would be nice to ride awhile! Haha. Hope you, Kim, and all the 4 legged family you have are all doing well.

(Beth, Ohio)

My Response To Beth

  Hi Beth, Great to hear from you, and thanks for taking time to email! One of the slogans for Natural Horse Faith-Man-Ship is "May God bless you with the faith ride of your life." It is a play on words, of course. It simply means that we hope your life will be filled with overcoming faith in God each and every day; a faith that allows you to live your life from start to finish with purpose, power, and partnership in Christ Jesus! Again, Beth, thanks for the email! 

Natural Horse

Faith-Man-Ship

(Teaching biblical faith using horses)

ARE YOU READY FOR THE FAITH RIDE OF

 YOUR LIFE?  

To Learn More... 

WRITE or EMAIL

Susan Klaudt Horse Ministry

P. O. Box 4994

Cleveland, TN 37320

or  

ksworldmin@aol.com