I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 5th of December, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

It's a wonderful day on the farm today. The sun is shining, and the birds are singing - especially the doves! We start in the Book of James 1:2-3 in the New Testament:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." 

Various trials equal patience. It doesn't come any other way, unfortunately. Two cowboys arrived on the farm these last few days with a huge truckload of horses. They were not "wannabe" cowboys. No, no, these were the real deal! These were horse trainers. They had come to the farm to train some horses with my son. After a few days on the farm and riding different horses and working out how they would exchange one horse for the other, a fair deal was arranged and they decided to leave very early the next morning, and I heard the big truck start up. They took the truck down to the loading ramp and started bringing in the horses they had traded with my son. I thought to myself, "This is going to take some time because a lot of these horses are quite green and they hadn't been ridden much, but to my surprise, they had them loaded in no time at all. Why? Because those two cowboys have learned patience with animals. You see, they have dealt with hundreds and hundreds of horses every year. They have been through various trials with these wild horses and they have reached a top level of horsemanship. 

When I was having a cup of tea with one of the cowboys, I saw that he had a big scar on his forearm. I asked him what caused that. He said, "A wild stallion attacked and tried to kill me when I was trying to ride him, but we managed to deal with the situation afterwards." Various trials equal patience. If you are going through a trial today, do not become despondent. Out of that trial, you will learn many life lessons and the most important one of all is to trust the Lord Jesus Christ in everything you do. These cowboys were not shy to take their hats off and pray often to the Lord. They are now safely on their way home with their new batch of horses and my son has got his batch of horses that he is going to train. 

Don't be afraid of various trials. They will teach you patience and will lead you to success.

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.