Roundup
Each fall all across the west roundups take place. In the spring cattle are turned out on the range to fatten and grow on the grass. On many of these ranges cattle from various ranches will mingle as they graze away the lazy days of summer. As days shorten and shadows lengthen it eventually becomes time to gather the ranges and bring all the cattle to large sets of corrals where they are sorted by brands and taken back to their home ranches for fall work and winter feeding.
Roundup can be a long process. Most of the cattle are easy to find and anxious to return to their home ranch to graze on fall pastures after hay has been harvested and irrigation has been completed. However, some cattle scatter widely and hide in remote areas in little bunches. Range bulls hide in willow patches along rivers and creeks. Back riding to find all the strays can take days and usually isn’t completed until the first snows of winter finally drive the last cows out of the high country.
So too the church. Sometimes life scatters us widely and responsibilities take us far afield. Its good for us to be rounded back up as we slowly shift from the days of summer to the shadows of fall. It won’t be long and leaves will flitter in the breeze and the wind will have a bite. Jack frost will leave his artwork on our windshields when go to start our vehicles in the morning. As the pageantry of God’s artwork is displayed in the colors of autumn, let’s remember our Great Creator and redeemer and devote ourselves anew to the work He has called us each to do. Let us go into the fields white unto harvest and bring lives to the King and glory to our God.
Because of grace,
Tim
