“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”” Psalm 121:1
When one works with animals and people at the same time, strange things can happen. Two weeks ago, I examined a cow which had a lame foot. I found the cause of the lameness and the farmer and I proceeded to load the cow back on the trailer. The cow was a little skittish, but she jumped back into the trailer, the farmer slammed the back door shut and began to lock it, and I turned back to the barn to begin my next job. Then, there was a loud crash—I turned back to behold the door wide open, the farmer on the ground and the cow running over him to freedom. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt but we now had a cow which had never been to Greenbush before and was determined to see all the sights. It ran down our driveway into our neighbor’s back yard through the 4 feet of snow. I jumped into my truck with a loaded syringe of tranquilizer determined to catch her on a street and slow the cow’s apparent plan to visit downtown Greenbush. Three times in the next half hour, I managed to get the cow onto one of our icy streets, but her four wheel drive permitted her to dive into the next yard before I could catch her. I don’t know where her four active brain cells were carrying her but I do know she was now no lover of men. The sight of one of us on foot set her in motion to kill (or at least maim). Finally, she arrived at our school where just 10 minutes earlier about 50 kids had been on the playground. Corrine (Oh the wisdom of a good wife!) had called the school and warned them that we had a cow on the loose. The teachers had responded wonderfully and all that were left were 4 farm boys who figured they knew how to help handle that cow. Just as we and the cow arrived, the teachers had gotten the 4 cowboy wannabes off the grounds as well. Now the cow stopped—she was tired and finally we had time to assess our options. My first suggestion was to have our local police drop her on the spot. Lisa, who works for me and had now caught up with us, said that would be messy and she suggested we call Wojo. Now Wojo (Keith Wojciechowski) is a real cowboy and lives only 4 miles from Greenbush. She called—he was excited and was at the school in 15 minutes with his son, 2 horses, and lariets. He unloaded the horses, jumped on his and headed for the cow lariat looped and ready to toss. This cow had never seen a horse—she responded the only way she knew—she charged. When the horse didn’t spook, she tried to change direction—the lariat snaked through the air and Wojo caught her on his first throw. The farmer and I raced back to the clinic, got his trailer, loaded the cow, and sent them back to the farm. On the way back to get his trailer, the farmer was bemoaning how this was the worst day of his life. I looked at him and said, “No way! No one was hurt, no property was damaged, we caught the cow, and…she is no longer lame—it’s a great day!”
Sunday morning, Psalm 121 was used at the beginning of our service. As I meditated on it, I first laughed because it’s hard to look to the mountains in Greenbush (there are only two hills in all of Roseau Co—we name them—Bemis and Minnesota). Then one of those God moments dawned on me—why was the Psalmist looking for help at all? The obvious answer is that he needed help (we keep things simple up here!). We live our lives with the complete intention of staying out of trouble—that if trouble comes, it’s out of failure on our parts to avoid difficulties and that if trouble comes, we like the farmer look upon those difficulties as bad days. The Psalmist simply and beautifully reminds us that it is on those days that we look most intently at our Lord and God because on those darker days, we are reminded that we absolutely need Him—that He is our creator—that He is our keeper—that He is our protector. At the close of every Sunday service at United, we sing the first stanza of “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”:
God be with you till we meet again, By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you, God be with you till we meet again.
May God be with you all as we face the struggles of the days—the sunny days as well as the darker days—those days especially as we look to where our help indeed comes from.
Dr. Lyle Mattson
Dr. Mattson is a veterinary in Greenbush, MN. He serves on the World Missions Committee.
