FINDING THE WAY BACK

In my late teens and early twenties I worked as a cowboy and also worked packing mules and horses for backcountry trips in the high Sierras both for private Pack Stations and the US Forest Service. I was stationed at a Guard Station about 22 miles in the backcountry in the heart of the Sierras. On a typical day I would saddle my horse and then put packsaddles and gear on about 6-8 mules to go ride trails or deliver supplies for fire camps.

There is not enough room here to tell you how smart, agile and perfectly formed a mule is for this work. Or to tell you how the myth describing mules as being stubborn and ornery is not a myth. I really like and respect mules.

Part of my job was to ride with my string of stock to fight lightning fires that were common from the strong thunder and lightning storms in the high mountains. It was also common to get caught out at night on unfamiliar trails in unfamiliar country. On a black night with powerful lightning and pouring rain it can be difficult to find your way on these back trails. It is against the rules to confess, “I was lost” but I can tell you now I didn’t know upside down from backwards about where I was on many trips both day and night.

But I learned something quickly working with these mighty mountain mules. When my own sense of direction failed me…regardless if I thought I was headed in the right direction and thinking my mules wanted to go in the wrong direction… they never were wrong. They always knew their way back home. So, here is what I learned: drop the reins on the neck of your horse and give slack to lead rope on the mules and they will quickly take you straight home.

That is very much like coming home to the Father described in Luke 15. Drop your reins and go on home.

“I will get up and go home to my Father…” Jesus