The Rescue

Saturday January 5th, 2019. An unseasonably warm Saturday reaching into the 50's, the perfect day to do some exploring with my trusty mustang Kid. I arrived at the barn with a sense of deep joy and peace. I always feel this way when I visit Kid. The smell of horses and sawdust coupled with the anticipation of an afternoon spent on horseback seeps into my soul and causes me to relax in the very deepest places inside of me. I pulled Kid in from the paddock and gave him some TLC, working nasty tangles out of his mane and braiding it. Throwing on his saddle we headed out to chase the adventure calling. I breathed deeply of the warm January air. I could have sworn I could feel my heart smiling as my Border Collie Cinch zig zagged back and forth in front of us, his nose to the ground catching every scent possible. I knew exactly where I wanted to head, County Road 15. The bridge on this road has been out for years, therefore causing County Road 15 to no longer be traveled. The overgrown path that used to be a road was just calling my name. We had to explore it!

Shortly down County Road 15 we came to the broken, crumbling bridge that caused the use of the road to come to an end. I urged Kid forward towards the creek and standing on the shoreline surveyed the situation. The bridge was definitely unsafe and not passable. I glanced west and then east to the sound of the creek bubbling and trickling. The banks of the creek were very steep but I felt sure there was a place Kid and I could make it across. Cinch plunged into the creek and buried his face joyfully while waving his butt in the air. This is Cinch's signature move when he finds water and always makes me chuckle. Pressing my legs against Kid's side I moved him forward following the shoreline all the while scanning for a place we could make it across. After a short jaunt to the east I found what I thought would be the perfect place to cross. A small trail led down the steep embankment and if I took a hard right once we reached the creek bed we could follow a small trail up the other side of the shore. I directed Kid towards the trail and asked him to follow it down to the creek. Kid hesitated and seemed to be saying, "I don't think this is a good idea." I persisted, "It's alright bud, we'll make it, just trust me." Kid balked a couple more times before taking me at my word and heading down the steep embankment. What happened next happened so quickly I barely had time to think. When Kid's hooves hit the creek bed it held him for only a second before he plunged into belly deep mud and began flailing desperately trying to scramble onto one of the steep embankments on either side of us. There was not even the split second of an opportunity to make the sharp right turn I had planned on. We were clamoring through belly deep mud headed in the wrong direction with the shoreline continuing to grow steeper on either side of us. Bailing sideways onto the shoreline while keeping Kid's reins in my hand I ran in front of him and hauled desperately on his face trying to help him to get his front feet out of the mud and onto the bank. Kid gave it a mighty effort and then stopped. Panting he looked at me wide eyed as if to say, "I'm really stuck mom, what now?" I knew instantaneously we were in a really bad situation! Kid could not get his front legs freed from the mud to get the leverage he needed to get on the shore. Not only that, the thick heavy winter mud was dragging him down. I could visibly see him sinking deeper in the mud and losing ground as he rested trying to regain strength to try again. 

When you're in deep water, when you know things are bad and are going to go from bad to worse quickly, you have to call for help! With shaking hands I gave the couple where I board Kid a quick phone call and told them I got my horse stuck in the creek. I explained where I was from their property and told them to bring ropes. I said he was attempting to get out but losing strength quickly and I didn't want him to lose so much strength that he quit trying.

While waiting for Richard, Mike, Josh and Alyssa to show up Kid made several more valiant efforts at getting out of the creek. One time he even got his front legs on the shoreline but he didn't have the proper positioning he needed to lift his butt out of the mud constantly sucking him down. When he struggled again I hauled on the reins with all my might but instead of making forward progress he turned sideways and fell back in the creek. The mud seemed to be gaining more power with each passing second and Kid was losing strength at a rapid rate. His nostrils flared and his eyes grew wide with panic!! My heart had never felt the intensity of pain and urgency I felt in those moments knowing my baby was stuck in a terrible situation that had the potential to end in tragedy! Kneeling next to him I rubbed his neck and told him help was coming, and we were gonna get him out. He quieted and drew strength from my presence. Even though I put him in the horrible situation we found ourselves in he still believed me when I said I would rescue him. 

The help crew showed up with a truck, four wheeler, and heavy duty tow rope. It only took one glance for them to access that the situation was very bad and going downhill quickly. The sun was creeping towards the horizon as we all sprang into action and tried to develop a game plan. We tried to run the tow rope behind Kid's front legs only to find that the mud was thick under his belly and we couldn't get the tow rope through. In an effort to help Kid quickly we looped the tow rope over the saddle horn and hooked him up to the four wheeler. Richard eased carefully backwards. The saddle began sliding sideways off of Kid and he seemed to almost be being shoved deeper into the mire. We yelled at Richard to quit as I rushed to Kid's side trying to figure out how else we could hook onto him. Kid began to shake violently from the temperature of the water and I went into full on panic mode shouting that Kid was going into shock and losing the strength to fight. We had to get him out, now! Something in Kid's eyes told me he was quitting on us and that was the worst feeling I'd ever had hit my gut. It wrapped it's ugly fingers around my insides and threatened to squeeze the breath out of me in fear and panic! Forcing myself to breath we tried to come up with a new plan. I had snapped a rein trying to help pull him out, so we were down to one rein. Richard said he was going to take the four wheeler back to the barn and get a halter so we had more leverage to help pull on his head when we got hooked onto him properly and pulled again. Mike swung into immediate action once Richard was gone. He too could see we were losing Kid. "We've got to get his front legs up on the bank" he shouted. Jumping into the creek with not a thought to the cold water Mike began pushing with all his might to get the thick tow rope underneath the pommel of the saddle so we could loop it back through itself. The thick heavy tow rope was refusing to fit through that tiny space, but somehow, miraculously Mike got it through. We looped it back through itself and Mike went running towards his truck as Alyssa hooked the rope onto the tow hook. I yelled at Josh to come help me pull on Kid's head. We ran the broken rein back through his bit and tied it on so we both had something to pull on. With the truck in 4 wheel drive, and Josh and I pulling on Kid's head to provide direction we slowly lifted his front legs out of the mud and onto the bank. Josh and I hung onto the reins as if our lives depended on it. The truck had to be re-positioned to now successfully drag Kid's whole body up the bank. Kid had indeed quit trying. He had nothing left. He sat there with his legs precariously on the shore shaking violently and slowly sliding back towards the muddy abyss we had just gotten him halfway pulled out of. I turned my head so Mike could hear me while still clutching my rein to keep Kid's head towards me and screamed, "Get that truck turned around, we have to pull him NOW! Let's GO!" Mike whipped the truck around in the corn field and Alyssa looped the tow rope over the hook once again. I screamed, "LET'S MOVE!" As Kid's body slowly and painfully began to emerge from the mud I continued to yell, "Go, Go, Go!" I knew we were standing between life and death in that moment. If Kid's body slipped back into the mire of the creek one more time and it reclaimed it's grip on him, we would lose him. He was out of strength and losing hope of being rescued. Josh and I continued to pull him forward as the truck hauled his body over the edge of the embankment. The saddle was sliding swiftly up Kid's neck in the process of pulling him out. Just as we were getting him freed from the clutch of the creek the saddle popped over Kid's head. I fell down and Kid hesitated when I lost pressure on his face. Scrambling to my feet I waved my hands and shouted, "Go, get out, come on boy!" Kid responded to my urgency and now having surged up on his front feet clamored forward removing his back legs from the mud and rising completely out of the creek. Running up the embankment after him close to tears I rushed to his side and leaned against him, both him and I shaking. Me from adrenaline, him from adrenaline, cold, and near shock condition. I cannot express to you what I felt when that mud and mire no longer had it's ugly clutch on him. The relief and inexpressible joy that overtook me left me incapable of words.

Y'all, I don't ever need to experience something like that twice in my life. But as I've reflected on how God sent His favor, mercy, and rescuing power in getting Kid out of that creek I've been moved to tears thinking how Kid's situation correlates to our lives. You see like Kid sometimes in our lives we get into such a deep, hard, destroying, swallowing place that we are panicked, hopeless and we've quit, we have no strength to try to get out of the mire anymore. In my mind's eye I can just picture God showing up on the scene, and in my heart I feel the emotions God may have for His child in that moment. It's like He shows up and says, "I AM getting you out of here. I'm not going to let this situation, this pain, this depression, this muck in your life swallow you alive. Whatever it takes you're coming out. LET'S GO! LET'S MOVE!" What my heart felt for my horse is only a fraction of the love and compassion God has for us, His children. On this day I experienced the strength of God's compassion and love for us when He finds us in need of rescue like I never have before. My horse was coming out of that creek, period. There was not another option in my mind, and neither is there with God. He will never leave us sinking, drowning, swallowed up by the darkness Satan and this world tries to destroy us with. He will ALWAYS come to our rescue. He will ALWAYS bring us safely home!

Today is the day for you to look up and see your Savoir has showed up on the scene. Whatever it takes, He's getting you out! The power of His love and His capacity to rescue is limitless! He's going to move you from death to life. From darkness to light. From defeat to victory. From shame to grace. From fear to faith. From sorrow to joy! From dread to expectation. From bondage to freedom. From mourning to dancing. He's got you, He's gonna get you out. It's time to MOVE, NOW!

Kid is safely home. His muddy body tells a story, just as our scars speak of what we've made it through, what we have survived. Even when Kid quit on us, we had a rescue mission, and we were not backing down. So it is with you and me. No matter what we do, no matter what deep dark mud pit we find ourselves, no matter how far we fall, or how deep or dark the sorrow is that we don't believe  we will make it through, we will. Because our God has a rescue mission, and He will not back down. He will rescue us, He will bring us safely home, and we will live to tell the story! 

"To the one who has rescued my soul,

To the one who has welcomed me home, 

To the one who is Savior of all,

I sing forever."

~ Hillsong