So yesterday, I celebrated 61-years of life and to start this long excerpt as to what happened, I would like to thank everyone for the Birthday wishes. I was overwhelmed. I would have liked to personally respond to each one, but there was no time. I believe each birthday is a celebration to Jesus for this gift called life. So, on this birthday, He had me very busy with quite the birthday surprise!
I got to the ranch at 6:40 am when the guys in the sober house were already feeding horses, except they couldn’t find Captain Jack. I said, “Boys, Captain Jack is a big draft horse! Did you check the lean to shed?” Saying they had, I decided to walk the fence line to see if the horse somehow broke through. Just a day earlier, I made the decision to switch our main herd in another pasture which is a common rotation between pastures for the last 17 years. Walking the fence line approximately 300 yards, I didn’t see any broken fence. I kept looking around but didn’t call out for Captain Jack at this point. Just moments later, while walking from the pasture to the office, I felt led to call his name. To my astonishment I heard a grunt. I scampered under the electric fence, running through the tall grass and there was JACK … STUCK IN THE MUD! I snapped a picture with my phone just before calling his owner, Carrie, then quickly called the guys in the barn and told them to grab shovels quick as Jack was buried up to his nec
k in mud. I then called 911 for the Brook Park Fire Department but they couldn’t help us out. That’s when Pastor John from CGI made a call to get an excavator out. We stopped and prayed when Carrie arrived. She was a wreck, as she dearly loves this big crabby pants horse. A few of us started digging just to keep him alive. Periodically Jack tried to get out but to no avail. The big backhoe arrived, and we started to dig so we could get straps around him, which took a lot of digging by hand to finally get the straps around him. For hours we worked tirelessly, trying not to lose hope, knowing in all we do we serve a mighty God. As the hours went by tempers got shorter and we started to lose hope as Jacks breathing was slowing down. I remember thinking to myself, “Jesus, you cannot let Jack die! Carrie has been through so much lately. Please, you can't let this happen.” And then the veterinarian from Sunrise Equine out of North Branch arrived, just as we pulled Jack out of the seemingly bottomless pit of mud. Examining Jack, she told us we needed to quickly flip him over. By this point Jack was nearly lifeless and had no strength to help us out. After several attempts and a lot of manpower, we got Jack turned after. Now the vet said, “You need to get him up on his feet.” So Big Rob and I clipped our red lead ropes onto Jack’s halter. The other eight men there to assist in all of us began pushing and kicking Jack, trying anything to get him up. Jack just wouldn’t budge. This entire ordeal was chaos, hard work, and we were all exhausted and at our wits end. I just stood there at that troubling moment, and out of my mouth directly into Jack’s face, came these words: IN THE NAME OF JESUS GET UP! It just came out in a thundering request to this poor horse, and then, he popped up. Everyone screamed, “He’s up. He got up!” We were all excited and crying while Jack just stood there with a look on this face like what just happened? We walked Jack back on the road to the barn where he received fluids from the vet, but all his other vitals were good news. An important factor of this story is that up to this day, normally Jack and I didn’t like one another much. But now, Jack and I come face to face all the time, which never once happened before. We all witnessed a miracle that day. No one has since expected or asked for any credit for their part in it all. I know I learned that from that day forward, I say “In the Name of Jesus” a whole lot more! Jesus gets all the credit as He gave Jack back to Carrie. What a beautiful birthday gift!
