Today we ran into a small herd of assorted cattle in the middle of the road. Most were gentle, and even posed in a docile fashion as I snapped their photographs. They let us pass unmolested. All except one. The cow with the extremely long horns.
My little dog, Gypsy, who can interpret cow language to some degree, grew weary. She made a wide berth away from the ill-tempered cow. (I later noticed that the cow had a calf close to her side.) At this point the cow came after us. Since my dog is on a leash and the leash is gripped firmly in my hand, I was forced to sprint the length of a football field until my little dog was comfortable with the distance that we'd put between us and the herd of cows.
The day was beautiful, Gypsy recovered from her fright and we enjoyed the rest of our walk. But we had one problem. We had to return the same way we came which was now blocked by a herd of cows.
I don't carry a cell phone because we don't get coverage in the little canyon where we live. 2nd Corinthians 12:9 "My God is sufficient for all my needs..."
We marched back home enjoying the morning but kept an eye out for the menopausal cow. And there they were, now in a stretch of the road with a high rock wall on one side and a steep drop off to the creek on the other side. There was no room to slip around the herd undetected.
"I can do all things through Jesus Christ Who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13.
I said it out loud to my dog to bolster her courage, (and my own).
She looked back at me. "It wouldn't hurt to have a plan."
"OK," I told her. "Here's our plan: We'll find some place to crawl down the bank to the river, wade the creek for a ways, and then crawl back up the bank after we are past the cows."
Gypsy glanced at me with doubt, but didn't offer anything better. As we started approaching the herd of cows, one brought up it's head in alarm. I couldn't find any place to crawl safely down the bank. My dog was growing anxious.
The the entire herd threw up their heads and gawked at us in sheer terror. In a split second a chaotic stampede of cattle raced AWAY from us down the road in the opposite direction.
The herd kept this pace until they found an open gate and charged into a field and off the road without disturbing a hair on my dog or me. I was both relived and perplexed. How could the cows be so docile one minute and terrified of us the next?
Psalm 18:29 - "By my God I can leap over a wall!" My little dog and I had a need and He heard my call for help! My God is great and my God is faithful! When I have Him, I have need of nothing else, not even a cell phone.
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