I got bucked off my horse this morning while moving cattle, and I’m mulling two life lessons from it.

I may look innocent…

Number one: It’s about 70% my fault because when it’s 100 degrees outside nobody feels much like riding. So the horses eat, sleep, and punk around the pasture, until shipping day when we yank them from their early morning slumber and we head out to gather calves.

And none of that’s a big deal until the cows get a little trotty and you’ve got to dig your heels in and get up there and stop them. Well, Prince Cuddles was offended by that, so he dropped his head and bucked me off, perhaps expressing his desire for more regular exercise.

On my way to the ground I had the following thought:

“Oh, this shouldn’t be too bad.”

And it wasn’t, I got up, gave Sam the high sign and got back on.

Lesson Number 2: The only reason I was fairly relaxed about my 41 year-old body hitting the ground was, I prayed about all of this ahead of time.

While hauling the horses to the back side of the ranch, I talked to Jesus about a few people who’ve asked me to pray for them; I asked for horse, human and bovine safety and we discussed marriage, which ranch wives everywhere will tell you, takes a beating on shipping day.

I’m not saying prayer is a lucky rabbit’s foot and nothing bad can happen after you pray, because obviously I still got bucked off. But praying just helps me not worry about outcomes so much. It reminds me that He promised to never leave me nor forsake me (Deut 31:6) and he will command His angels to guard me. Psalm 91:11.

So forget the candles, incense and King James English you don’t need all that. You just need to a little faith that he is who he says he is, and he’s standing by to help.