There's Something Special About Horses

I think today is a day for thinking. My ponderings really began last night though as we left our local restaurant/bar. We had a nice mexican dinner and then sat in the bar area for awhile listening to the live music and visiting with a few folks gathered there. As we came outside to leave, Radek, (our new Czech Republic friend) noted that , "some people just make life harder on themselves." So true. And here in Humboldt, especially Southern Humboldt, it often seems that there are a higher percentage of people who are doing just that. Then today, while reading a neighbor's blog, I was directed to this link and read a very sobering article on actual statistics from this area on teen drug use and teen death. I shouldn't have been so surprised at how much higher our rates are. But I somehow was. It is so incredibly beautiful here and and the air pure and the sun light so bright, and yet I often feel such a heavy pall of darkness in this area that I lie in bed at night and just pray for the darkness to part. Secrets lie amidst these hills. We never really blog about these things do we? We make it seem lovely and it is and yet this area has does have many hard problems and broken lives. I am not sure if we have ever mentioned before that we moved here primarily because we felt led by God to come. We feel called to help bring light and restoration to lives and in our own small way we try. As many others in this area do too. It's not that we have any special abilities to heal or restore, but we know this place and our lives are full of grace and blessings and we must share these. And yet sometimes we dream of doing more, something perhaps a little bigger than ourselves. One dream that we have had for a few years is to begin a free riding program here on the ranch for kids of all ages. We even attended a training clinic in Oregon at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch. Here we met the Wades, who if you are a regular reader have probably seen their comments before. They are a wonderful family out in New Mexico bringing pure joy to kids with thier free horse program, now entering their second year. Maybe someday we will be able to offer something like that here too. Because there is something about horses that helps. I'm not sure why, but I know it is true. Like Yesterday when Jo and I went for wonderful ride. We left a little flustered and tired and returned renewed. It was beautiful, sunny and warm and her horse and mine really seemed to enjoy the day, but she and I did immeasurably more. She brought to words what I often feel when she said, "I feel so centered whenever I ride my horse". Yes, indeed Jo, there is something centering about horses. Something that definately helps. Something that maybe we can begin sharing with more people. As we look to the future we ask you join us in pray and thought about this.