The fall leaves were still on fire. Looking at the front the house gleems the Glorification of God with it's Southern Christmas Charm exuding peace mixed with the ebb and flow of life's reality living on a farm. The highs... the lows.... the amazing.... the challenges. The unification of one family who brought all this wholesomeness together under one roof.....
Luke 9 says "Go I am sending you"...and this is where I landed. Also we know the best day in our lives is to discover our gift and the second best is to give it away.
These beautiful people that have made me their guest for the last 30 days bring forth the gift of love and hope and protection. I've been a quiet observer in many ways taking in all the goodness here. Steadfast in beautiful humanity, humbled by confession, strengthened by instruction, committed to Christ's mission greeting each other with the peace that comes from God.
But beyond the boundaries of this acreage lays another special place. A place that is safe for us Christians to express our faith in Christ and Glorify his Name in a Big Way.
Combining these two together and have brought absolute magic into my life and so many others who have had a part of this awesome experience. First and foremost, I would like to thank the 22 horses who made this possible.... for their work ethic and the unconditional love and bringing joy to people's hearts as they carried a total of 13,000 passengers this last month... The amazing horse care and logistics that no horse worked more than 4 days a week and no longer than 5 hours in one stretch ----- exemplifying a GOLD STANDARD in our Industry. We all travelled 2100 miles total....and every night was perfectly implemented with the love, skill and care of every person out there... the end came as bitter sweet and merged into a soft landing as the stars came over the North Carolina skies, the harnesses hung up in the tack trailer and the clanging of stainless steel hames being hung up for one more year.
One by one the last 5 horses came off the trailer... Open the gate, halters off, horses out... one by one they went into the safe pastures with their fellow equine brothers and sisters... Each horse signified an adjournment for those seated in the barn.
One by one the last 5 horses came off the trailer... Open the gate, halters off, horses out... one by one they went into the safe pastures with their fellow equine brothers and sisters... Each horse signified an adjournment for those seated in the barn.
At almost 11:30pm December 23rd, I said " I think you can say it now."
The words fell out of his mouth, 'We did it."
Those three little words meant that this entire team made it 2100 consecutive miles in perfect unison like the Geoffrey Ballet having its final curtain call.
I took the last ride with passengers from the Honduras. A young couple who travelled here just to experience this place. Not ONE of the 13000 people who were carried were ever out of line. There was a strong under current with Merry Christmas being spoken out of everyone's mouth in a manner where we all felt emotionally safe to be who were in Christ. And to think, only 3 rain days...and the rest. PERFECT weather with a few nights of Chilly.
However, the heart and soul of it all were the team that made it happen with synergistic leadership encouraging each of us every day. From the opening prayer to the last halter off, I guess you can say this is a love letter to my new carriage family of the south. Bridger, Heidi, Madison, Gail and Mike, Eric, Larry, Isabell, Caroline, Maddie, Travis and his amazing team and experience, Erika, Taylor, and I am sure I am missing someone and it's not intentional....
BUT ALL OF YOU, have made this feel like "falling in love" all over again. Every one of you made me feel like this is where I have belonged, I felt safe and secure under the Wings of the Lord nestled on top of a horse carriage in a comraderie that rivals my carriage family in Chicago...
So here in the heartland of the Carolinas is a corner of the world that no one knows about. It has been here since before the motor laws... stemming back 5 generations.
The parking lot at the end of the night was hard. When my passengers stepped off the carriage, I choked back the tears knowing I was hanging up my lines commercially for who knows how long. Bridger jumped into the back of my carriage to take the last trip down the hill. I knew sweet silence was importance for a bit. Pulling into our staging area, as usual, a Descension of the finest footmen and drivers undoing every thing for each horse and carriage and------
POOF --- within 20 minutes 10 carriages parked, tops up, 10 horses un-tacked and loaded into huge rigs. The chill night breeze caught the appearance of an instant ghost town. It was over... We all hugged each others necks. And 4 5 6 7 8 JUST~LIKE~THAT - gone.
I always held the belief that when we show up in Christ, God does the rest...
'We did it."
AMEN!
