The Entry Fee to Heaven ~ The Rodeo Cowboy’s Prayer

Clowning Around
Penrose, Colorado
September 2010
Karen Rivera

Chasing down an overheard reference to a non-existent raspberry farm, I landed in another one of Colorado’s small towns. Driving through most small towns, you wonder where the end of town is. In Penrose, Colorado, you won’t have that problem. The town ends after a few blocks when the paved road abruptly does.

The town has no stop lights, a volunteer fire department, and almost no problems except for what seems to be a group of entitled clowns and misspelled signs.

The Sunday I stopped by, there were more horses than cars riding to church. The service was quite moving.

Sunday Services
Penrose, Colorado
September 2010
Karen Rivera

Rodeo Cowboy’s Prayer

Our gracious and heavenly Father, we pause in the midst of this festive occasion, mindful and thoughtful of the guidance that you have given us.

As cowboys, Lord, we don’t ask for any special favors.
We ask only that you let us compete in this arena.
We don’t ask to never break a barrier, or to draw a round of steer that’s hard to throw, or a chute fighting horse, or a bull that is impossible to ride.

We only ask that you help us to compete as honest as the horses we ride and in a manner as clean and pure as the wind that blows across this great land of ours.

So when we do make that last ride that is inevitable for us all to make,
to that place up there, where the grass is green and lush and stirrup high,
that you’ll tell us as we ride in that our entry fees have been paid.

These things we ask.
Amen.
© Clem McSpadden. In memory of Howard Manuel, Jim Moore and Zachary Vanwhy.