Dare to Rein in Hope…

This last week I had to make a trip out west to a small town known as Cambridge Idaho. It’s big sky, big land, livestock, 18 wheeler country. Life is not complicated there. I am sure it’s hard and harsh, but simple living, easy going folk. When I called my business contact there to plan the trip I was told the best place to get a room was the ‘Frontier Motel and RV Park’.

“Uh huh,” I said with some hesitation, “well I will do that…” and I hung up. Then I looked it up and understood quickly that this was going to be an adventure. It ends up this town holds the massive amount of souls to the tune of 362. It’s up in the mountains and the land is just breathtaking. The trip out there ended up being a long day. It started at 3:30 am. By the time I drove into town, it was over 13 hours of travel time and we were 2 hours behind North Carolina. I was lost… totally.

There is ‘one’ road… 95 North, that goes straight through town. We didn’t bother putting the Frontier Motel and RV park in the GPS… I just entered in the town, suspecting one main road, through one small town, would end up at the doorstep of our lodging. As you drive into town you are greeted by a large sign saying “Welcome to Cambridge Idaho… Gateway to Hell’s Valley”.

“Man gotta get a picture of THAT!” We then drove two blocks and there was our landing for the night. Frontier Motel and RV Park is everything you might imagine. Enter into the small ‘office’, marked by the quintessential neon sign and we come face to face with a mounted Moose head the size of a small VW with Bullwinkle hanging off the antlers. The proprietor behind the counter said with a ‘Missondian’ (I just made that word up) sounding accent “Welcome to the Frontier. How are ya’ll doing?”

I said “Well, kinda tired, been a long day”.

The owner said with a question implied. “And?”

So I said “And… I have no real idea where we are at?”

To which she said more slowly “A…n…d?”

My mind went blank….”And I don’t know what time it is?” (Now I was sorta asking questions).

She said “A….n…..d?”

Now I was thinking in my head because I had no idea what she wanted  and was getting a little impatient.

“And this is the freaking middle of nowhere?”

“And I wonder if you folks have running water?”

“And is that a banjo I hear in the background?”

Instead I said “And what?”

“Your name?” She said patiently… Oh yea, I am tired. Name given, room keys in hand off we went. I settled in after dinner at the local diner. I laid out my running clothes to go for a jog the next morning. 5 am and it’s dark like black strap molasses and 39 degrees. I was jogging through town and within 5 minutes was in ‘no town back-wood country’. I smelled a fireplace, and the sweet aroma filled me with a sense of hope for some reason. I don’t know why it brought that feeling but it caused me to dig deeper in my heart.

Hope…

I went back and started my day.

Later, I went for a small drive outside of town where I had run that morning.

Now to go a slightly different direction with this piece, my Elizabeth used to own horses and live on a farm. It was literally part of her soul to be on the land and to have the intimate relationship with God’s creation at her fingertips. I tell her often that in my travels, there are places I visit where the sky is big, the land is open and I ‘feel’ her presence there. Idaho is big livestock country and the land is full of life. I passed a ranch buried in the lower hills of Northern Cambridge, Idaho. There was a paddock of about six horse standing near the gate when I drove up. The ‘alpha’ clearly wanted the rest of the herd to move and she jumped up, came down and started to chase the other five horses. They all took off in unison with the speed of the wind and rounded a barn heading away from me. The applause of hooves beating the ground was spine tingling, their manes were tossing and flying in the wind, and the amount of life/energy in these majestic animals made feel like somehow some of Elizabeth was here with me so many miles away. There is something about Elizabeth and horses that can’t be explained. It brought back the feeling of hope from early in the day.

Hope…

Most know, hope is sorta the last thing I cling to and I have to be reminded that hope is as real as the sun, moon, ocean and sky. Hope is as real as the love I have for my mom, dad and my son. Hope is as real as my love for Elizabeth. Hope can also slip through your fingers like the sand at the sea. Hope is born from within, almost like a secret message planted from before time. One just needs make space for it or pick up Psalms…it blossoms with Hope. I’ve watched Elizabeth give up her dream to do what needed to be done and it hurt her to bone, but she continued to hold on to hope like it was her breath.

The talk of Hope sent me to this corner…

Hope Reins

Elizabeth works with a wonderful team who operates ‘Hope Reins’. On my flight out to ‘nowhere’ I was up at 3:30 am to board a plane out of Raleigh bound for Salt Lake, then on to Idaho. I took my seat near the back, and in front of me sat members of the team that Elizabeth now works with.

What is Hope Reins? It is a ministry in our local area of Raleigh, North Carolina, and they dare to rein in hope for hurting children and their families who’ve lost hope…these are precious people who have tasted the harsh side of life, and had hope slip through their ‘proverbial’ fingers and souls. I have the position of sitting back and watching these fine folk run a major horse operation all for the purpose of giving others hope. Elizabeth talks non-stop about these people, and sees the Divine working through these people who love people, love God, and love horses. On the flight out, I sat behind Kim, Barb, Hilary, and Hank ‘the human tank’… who literally runs the grounds at Hope Reins. As I sat a couple of rows back it made my bones smile to look at the team sitting amongst all of ‘us’ folks who are just walking through life, yet in our midst were these four superstars who are changing people’s lives everyday by the work they do.

Their own mission statement reads “Hope Reins of Raleigh provides comfort to hurting children and their families by providing one-on-one sessions between caring leaders and extraordinary ‘equine counselors,’ many of whom are rescued horses and faced abuse and neglect themselves. Our services are free of charge and made possible by public donations.”

Back to Idaho – As I watched these hoses run with a cacophony of hooves through the pasture, all I could think of was ‘Hope’. Hope is so fleeting, so easy to lose, yet it is never far away. It’s something that literally ties us together as a race yet so few of us really understand or have hope. Elizabeth and the team at Hope Reins know more about hope than I could ever know in a lifetime. As I thought of seeing these team members from Hope Reins it just settled into me how this team of people make a space for hope to fill into other’s lives just like when you ‘allow’ air to fill your lungs. Sure you can ‘suck’ air in but if you just open your diaphragm muscles air will push it’s way in.

Hope Reins does the same thing. They just help open you up and Hope floods into the lives of these troubled souls like floodwater during the spring snow runoff from the mountains. If you are in that place where hope is missing, look them up. They will tell you that ‘Hope Reins’.

http://www.hopereinsnc.org/

Peace on your journey.