Golden Spur Ministries Year-In-Review Video - December 31st, 2008

I put together this short video showing several pictures and videos from our ministry in 2008. The Lord has used our partners to impact the rural world in a mighty way and this video puts a face on those changed lives. Enjoy...

National Finals Rodeo Ministry - November 29th-December 8th, 2008

Each year our ministry comes to a close with our work at the National Finals Rodeo. Our Fellowship of Christian Cowboys ministry team was in Las Vegas for the finals for a little over a week and, while Vegas is not an ideal place for a believer to vacation, we were truly blessed by the Lord's work. Our team was also joined for a few days by my brother-in-law, Curtis Wiebe. Curtis is married to Leslie's sister, Bitty, and farms near El Dorado, KS.

This year's ministry in Vegas was a little different than previous years. We did not set up a booth at the Cowboy Christmas trade fair as we've done in the past. Instead a couple from a Colorado Springs chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys used our booth space to sell thier "Christian Cowboy" themed products along with keeping up a display of our outreach material (New Testaments, Bible tracts, and Bible studies). I was a little apprehensive of this change but the couple proved to be an excellent crew for the booth. Not needing to man our booth freed our team up to move around the Cowboy Christmas gift show and make several important meetings and events throughout Vegas. As a result, we were able to follow up on and spend more time with some relationships that would ordinarily have suffered. I am still praising God for this provision and we look forward to continuing this partnership with that chapter next year.

We also had a new opportunity this year to hold a Cowboy Church Service for the Miss Rodeo America Pageant. You probably remember that we have held a prayer breakfast for the pageant contestants in the past. This year we were asked by the Director of the Miss Rodeo America Association to hold a service for the family, friends, and spectators of the pageant. This was a huge opportunity for us. I believe that it was offered to us because of our faithfulness in ministering to the contestants at the prayer breakfast for so many years.


As you can imagine, when we have a new service it is sometimes hard to estimate how many people we will have or what kind of reception we will receive. With new ministries like this we sometimes have three people show up (like a few times at the American Royal Rodeo) or we can have fifteen hundred show up. We usually try to advertise the service with fliers, posters, and word of mouth and then we trust the Lord to bring those whose hearts have been softened. Around five minutes before the start of the service there were seven people in the room (and five of them were part of the service). That could be disheartening, but at the time the service was to start we were scrambling to find more chairs. The Lord provided the people! After the service we talked with quite a few who were challenged by the message and we are looking forward to keeping up those contacts this year!


Later in the week we held a prayer breakfast for the actual contestants of the Miss Rodeo America pageant. This is my fourth year organizing this event for the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys. The prayer breakfast is held during the most intensive time of the pageant and the Lord usually uses it to encourage the contestants and calm their nerves. We had two quick praise songs and then a testimony from the reigning Miss Rodeo America. Amy Wilson, Miss Rodeo America 2008, shared how the Lord had used her over the past year to be a witness in the rodeo world. She encouraged the ladies to see all the opportunities that they have throughout the year to serve the Lord and make the most of them. Following the service we presented each of the state rodeo queens with a Cowboy New Testament, a Bible tract, and a copy of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys monthly magazine The Line Rider. We let our new helper, Curtis, make the presentation!


We finished up the week with a Cowboy Church Service at the Cowboy Christmas gift show. This service is one that I look forward to each year because so many of the Cowboy Christmas vendors have become like family to us. We've built relationships with many visitors to this service and this is usually the only time we get to meet and minister to them face to face.


I would appreciate your prayers specifically for those who made decisions for the Lord in Vegas this year and for our faithfulness in following up with discipleship! I can't wait until next year...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Cowboy Church Service...

Click here for more pictures of the Miss Rodeo America Prayer Breakfast...

Click here for more pictures of the Cowboy Christmas Cowboy Church Service...

Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church's 40th Anniversary - November 10th, 2008

Yesterday we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of our home church, Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church. This was probably one of the most memorable ceremonies I've been involved with. We had several "charter" members travel to share with us and, of course, we had a big pot-luck fellowship after. The entire two-hour service was dedicated to remembering how the Lord has used this rural church over the years and our pastor gave a challenge for us to continue aligning with God's Word and to continue to reach out for forty more years. If you are interested, our pastor produced a video of the country church's multistage construction and several outreach events throughout the years. Check it out...

Meet Logan, The Sky Angel Cowboy - November 10th, 2008

This video was emailed to me a few days ago. If you have a few minutes, it would be worth your time to watch it. The video speaks for itself...

American Royal Rodeo Ministry - October 17th-25th, 2008

This past week I've been at the American Royal in Kansas City ministering at the youth rodeo. We were able to pray with the students behind the chutes at several of the performances and help a local church Cowboy Church, Open Range Fellowship, with a booth in the trade show.

If you've known me for any amount of time then you have likely heard me talk about the American Royal. I've got quite a history of performing, trick riding and ministering at the Royal. In fact, when I was riding with the Rodeo Kids I had the opportunity to perform in the Royal's educational shows from 1986-1999. As you can see from the chubby picture above, there is even a life-size picture of me from my Rodeo Kids days in the American Royal Museum and Visitor's Center. In 2000 our college trick riding group, Flying Flamboyance (I have no idea why we selected that name!?!), were asked to trick ride in the American Royal Wild West Show. Since then I have been helping Paul and Linda Scholtz with cowboy ministries and Cowboy Church Services during the Royal's annual rodeo. The Scholtz have been ministering at the Royal since 1979 and have never missed a year. Our partnering with the Scholtz at the American Royal has been awesome as they are looking to phase into retirement from the Royal and we are looking to become even more involved.

I say all of this because this year our ministry at the American Royal was dealt a pretty heavy blow. We found out just a few short weeks before the Rodeo was to start that there was no place in the schedule for the Cowboy Church Service. To the best of my knowledge, this was just a scheduling problem as the American Royal administration simply couldn't find facility that was available during the times we had for the service. As you can imagine we were pretty bummed about this. In fact, I went through half the week feeling like a failure...It was even worse as people kept coming up to us and asking when the service was!


As it turns out, I was able to further our relationship throughout the week with the leadership of the American Royal and, hopefully as a result, this should help us become even more involved with the rodeo next year. I'll be having a meeting with the American Royal leadership in January to discuss some specifics about our involvement next year! Please be praying for this as we would like to not only hold our services and pray with cowboys behind the chutes, but I also hope to be able to help with the American Royal's youth rodeo committee. Pray also for our continued relationship with the Open Range Fellowship cowboy church as they also have a heart to minister at the American Royal. (The picture above is the booth that their church put together for the Royal's trade show.)

Abundant Life Baptist Church Children's Sunday School Cowboy Day - October 12th, 2008

We had the opportunity to help the Sunday School ministry of Abundant Life Baptist Church on October 12, 2008. Abundant Life was my home church after I placed my faith in Christ. The church, along with its home city of Lee's Summit, MO has grown quite a bit over the past several years. We were able use our camp horses to help us teach the kindergarten through fifth grade Sunday School classes about bridling their tongues and trusting in the Lord. Bridling the tongue is found in James chapter three and uses a horse's bridle as an example of control. Having the horses there really gave the kids something to remember as they consider honoring the Lord with what they say. I've also found, the longer that we work with horses, that a horse's relationship to the rider is an excellent illustration of the relationship of man's responsibility and God's responsibility. It is all about trust!

Click here for a few more pictures of this ministry...

First Baptist Church of New Castle

On September 28th, 2008 I had the opportunity to share our ministry with First Baptist Church of New Castle, CO. The church reminded me quite a bit of our home church both with the friendliness of the people and the size of the church (the major difference was the view - as you can see above). I was encouraged by both the fellowship with the church and with the pastor. I'm excited to see how the Lord builds and strengthens this new relationship!

Homewood Christian Community Church - August 24th, 2008

Leslie and I had the opportunity to visit our friends at the Homewood Christian Community Church in Homewood, KS this past weekend. Homewood was actually where I preached my first message about eight years ago and they were the first local church to partner with our ministry with Golden Spur Ministries.

Homewood is a rural church that is around fifteen minutes from Ottawa, KS. Please remember Homewood Christian Community Church in your prayers as they are working on building a new sanctuary to replace the hundred-year-old sanctuary that had been deteriorating over the past few years. They currently have the foundation completed and are going to begin exterior construction over the next few weeks. Pray that the project remains safe and that they would raise the funding needed to complete the project.

National High School Finals Rodeo - July 18th-27th, 2008

On July 18th-27th, 2008 I was part of a ministry team from the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys that ministered at the 2008 National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, NM. Last year was my first year of attending the National High School Finals Rodeo and if you recall I was absolutely blown away by the response from the students. I was even more encouraged this year!

The ministry started off with our crew arriving in Farmington on Friday and we spent most of the evening setting up our booth in the trade show. This particular booth was a scaled down version of the booth that we set up at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. We had a free table (stocked with Cowboy New Testaments and Bible tracts) and a table that contained a few FCC logoed items for sale. We also had a testimony DVD showing on a TV that showed a few well known cowboys sharing what the Lord's been doing in their lives. I was pretty surprised how many students would stop in our booth and just sit down and watch that video (sometimes the entire 30 minutes). The booth was open each day from 10am to 7pm and served as our "office" throughout the week. I call it our "office" because, while sitting in a booth for six or seven hours a day is not exactly the most exciting opportunity (especially during the slow times), we were able to use that booth space as a place to meet with and build up relationships with the students throughout the entire week.

Sunday was the final day for contestants to check in and Sunday evening was the first performance of the rodeo (there were 13 performances total). We held a Cowboy Church Service that morning in the Memorial Coliseum and there were around 950 people in attendance. That is by far one of the largest services that we have ever held! While that service was encouraging, I was even more encouraged by the students and families who talked to us throughout the rest of the week about the service (either thanking us for being there or sharing with us how they were touched).

If we were not in the booth or sleeping (or at the service on Sunday), then we were at the rodeo performances behind the chutes and in the announcer's stand praying with the contestants and helping out where we could. While at the performances, we each wore a vest that identified us as Rodeo Chaplains. Usually, I'm apprehensive about drawing attention to myself in that manner, but I believe that the Lord used that identification for His glory during this rodeo.

On Friday night (the second to last night of the rodeo) one of the bull riding contestants suffered a serious neck injury. I'm not sure of the specifics, but the doctors had said that his fifth and sixth vertebrae impacted and the result was that his sixth vertebrae was above his fifth. Ordinarily, people do not survive an impact of that magnitude and given enough time (hours in fact) they would definitely be paralyzed. The Lord used two factors to prevent this young man, Corbin, from being paralyzed. The first factor was that a nationally renowned sports medicine neurosurgeon happened to live in Farmington, NM. Within hours of the injury this same doctor had Corbin in surgury and within a day he was already starting to regain feeling in his lower body (he had lost feeling from the neck down in the arena). The second factor, and I believe that this is greater than the first, is that there were literally hundreds of people praying for Corbin throughout the rodeo and the city of Farmington. In fact, several times while we were still wearing our chaplain vests a group of students would stop us and ask us to pray with them for Corbin's recovery. What an awesome testimony...The Lord was using this tragedy to bring genuine thoughtful prayer into the sport of rodeo!

The Lord also used the identification that we had with our vests to lead a contestant to us late one evening so that he could pray to place his faith in Christ. Our team was standing in line at a concession stand after Thursday night's performance and the kid walks up to us and asks, "Can I be saved?" He was so bold and surprising that it took a few seconds for it to register with us what he was wanting. I've never experienced that before!

I left the 2008 National High School Finals Rodeo totally encouraged by the Lord's work there and my head swimming with ideas about ministries and opportunities for the next finals. Too bad it's a year away!

For more pictures from the ministry click here...

Ayore Church Camp - June 29th-July 4th, 2008

Last week marked the third year that I was invited to preach at the Ayore Church Camp in Horton, KS. The camp is organized by the Ayore Church in Morrill, KS and reaches out to youth from Morrill, Hiawatha, and Sabetha (all located around 45 minutes West of St. Joseph, MO).

The camp lasted five days and contained seperate Bible study classes for high school, middle school, and elementary school age students. In addition to preaching to the entire camp during the nightly chapel services, I led the high school age Bible study twice a day. The teaching (in addition to preaching) was a change for me but I enjoyed leading the students through a basic Bible study course. My prayer is that the students will have recieved the tools and methods necessary to study Scripture on their own during the year.

Please keep our friends at the Ayore Church in your prayers as they continue the relationships with these youth and as they prepare for the arrival of thier new pastor in late August!

Lifehouse Skit - June 27th, 2008

Last week at the Flat Tops Rodeo Bible Camp in Rifle, CO one of the camp counselors asked if I could display the following video clip to a few of the camp's students. It took a while to download, but I was blown away by the bold message that the video clip proclaims. It shows a few of the struggles that our youth face on a daily basis and how those same struggles can keep pushing us farther and farther away from a dynamic relationship with Christ. Ultimately we are shown how we can push through all of the world's distractions and struggles and discover the peace and security that comes only through faith in Christ. I warn you, the clip is a little graphic in parts. If you are like me this clip will challenge you...

Flat Tops RBC - June 16th-19th, 2008

The Lord is at work in our youth! If you don't believe that you should have traveled with me to the Flat Tops Rodeo Bible Camp in Rifle, Colorado last week (June 16th-19th, 2008).

Like last year, I was asked to both provide instruction in trick riding and preach during the six chapel sessions. Most of the time, at camps were I teach trick riding and preach I get pretty worn out pretty quick (that couldn't have anything to do with 16 hours of non-stop teaching). This year, however, the Lord blessed the trick riding clinics with three students who really had a desire to learn that was so great that it was only surpassed by their desire to walk with our Lord. In fact, the girls' and boys' Walk-the-Talk Buckles were won by trick riding students! (The Walk-the-Talk Buckle is awarded at each camp to one boy and one girl who displays the most Christ-like attitude.)

Just like at the Northern Front Range Rodeo Bible Camp, I preached through the book of 1 John. The age range of the students was from 8-18 (just like the last camp) but I was amazed at how well the students seemed to be paying attention and remembering the major points of our chapel sessions. Over all, it just seemed like the Lord was really at work in the lives of the students. In fact, the first night nearly half of the camp made a decision to either place their faith in Christ or work towards a deeper and dynamic relationship with Him. It only got better as the camp went on!

I was amazed at the energy that the Lord gave me at this camp. Sometimes when I do several camps back to back I get pretty worn out. This was not the case in Rifle though. I believe that this was, in part, due to the great relationship that the Lord has built up between myself and the camp director, Jeff Kehr. This is my third year of preaching at this camp and it is Jeff's fifth year as a camp director. Jeff (and the Flat Tops Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys) have the discipline, maturity, facilities and endurance to run a great camp and the Lord uses them to do just that every year! I feel truly blessed to be a part of that. I was pretty amazed this year as Jeff asked me a question or I asked him a question about chapel or the camp in general, it seemed like we were always of one mind and had the same conclusion to problems or struggles. I really look forward to working with that whole crew again next year!

As with all camps, I would ask for your prayers for the students and staff who made commitments to the Lord. Pray that they will have the endurance they need to keep those commitments and that they will have the wisdom that only comes from a deeper understanding of Scripture. Pray also for those that do not have a home church--we stress pretty hard at each camp the need for commitment to a local church. Last, simply praise the Lord for another great camp in Rifle, Colorado and for the great crew that He has placed there!

Click here for more pictures from Rifle...

Below is a video clip of the baptisms that were perfomed at this camp...

Northern Front Range RBC - June 10th-13th, 2008

Just a few weeks ago, I preached and taught trick riding at the 2008 Northern Front Range Rodeo Bible Camp. The camp was held at the Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley, CO from June 10th-13th.

There were around sixty students at the camp from ages 8-18. That's a pretty big age range for preaching! Each Rodeo Bible Camp has six chapel sessions. For my part, I preached through the book of 1 John and focused on the major themes: (1) Real Joy, (2) Walking in the Light and Confessing Sins, (3) Obeying His Commands and Loving Others, (4) Remaining in His Word, and (5) Definition of Love - Placing Others Needs Before Our Own.

It was my prayer that the Holy Spirit would use the study of 1 John to challenge the students to develop a dynamic relationship with Christ by applying the above mentioned principles. There were quite a few kids who placed their faith in Christ and even more who, at the end of the camp, made a commitment to grow in their relationship with Christ over the next year.

In a bit of a side note, I was encouraged by the opportunity to present the Word at this camp alongside Paul and Linda Scholtz. Paul was the preacher who preached at the Rodeo Bible Camp in 1997 where I was saved. Linda, who is a renowned trick rider and instructor, was the reason why I went to that same camp (to learn trick riding). It was a great blessing to have Paul and Linda leading the music for the morning chapel services at this camp.

Please remember the students and adults who made commitments to Christ at this camp. Pray for their faithfulness and for the Lord to build up in them a hunger for the Word and a desire for fellowship with a local church!

Click here to see pictures from this camp...

Below is a video clip showing the two baptisms that were performed at this camp...

Flint Hills Rodeo Ministry - June 6-7, 2008

Earlier this month I was asked to partner with Flint Hills Community Church in setting up an outreach booth at the Flint Hills Rodeo in Strong City, KS. Strong City is about 15 minutes west of Emporia, KS. The church is one of our oldest support churches and is one of the few Bible-preaching churches located in close proximity to the rodeo grounds.

For the outreach itself, we set up a tent and handed out copies of The Way for Cowboys (a New Testament that includes testimonies from a few professional cowboys and cowboy preachers), a rodeo themed Bible and testimony tract called Are You Ready?, and copies of the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys' monthly magazine The Line Rider.

Despite the overnight destruction of our tent (strong winds are common in the Flint Hills), the team handed out a case of Bibles and built relationships with several spectators. This was the first year of doing this ministry and we are looking forward to partnering again with the Flint Hills Community Church next year for an even greater impact.

Click here for more pictures of our time in the Flint Hills...

The Ayore Church - May 25th, 2008

On May 25th, 2008 I had the opportunity to preach at The Ayore Church in Morrill, KS. Ayore is a church that we've had a relationship with for about six years. In that time we've filled the pulpit, preached at a Bible and missions conference, and helped with two of their annual church camps. The church itself is located in Morrill, KS which is a rural community about forty miles west of St. Joseph, MO.

I preached from Matthew 22 and Jesus' teaching on the Greatest Commandment. One of the greatest aspects and signs of the Christian life of both individuals and churches is the presence and activity of sacrificial love. It might even be that many churches that we visit would claim that I preach on the subject too often. While sacrificial love is the most important aspect of our lives and service to the Lord and our communities, it is also the greatest way that most believers and churches fail!

We've been preaching at Ayore frequently of the past few months as they are without a pastor. The encouraging news is that they have a pastoral candidate visiting in a few weeks. Please remember both the Ayore Church and their pastoral search committee in your prayers as they seek to find the man that the Lord has for them!

GSM Board Meeting - May 24th, 2008

Saturday, May 24th, 2008, the Golden Spur Ministries Board of Directors held its regular quarterly meeting at the home of Cory and Leslie Young in Belton, MO.

During the meeting, I (Cory) gave a report on the ministries that have been completed since the last Board meeting, updated the Board on upcoming ministries, and presented this fiscal year's current financial report.

Other than regular business, I also gave a report on Golden Spur's new website and blog. Our goal with both the website and blog is to create an effective means of giving reports on what the Lord is doing in our ministry and keep our prayer team and supporters up-to-date with our prayer needs and schedule.

The next meeting of Golden Spur's Board was set for August 9th, 2008.

First Baptist Church of Cleveland - May 18, 2008

During our ministry at the Cass Midway High School Baccalaureate a few weeks ago Leslie and I were reacquainted with Pastor Henry Green from First Baptist Church of Cleveland, MO. I say reacquainted because, while we hadn't seen each other for several years, Pastor Green was one of the several ordained pastors and deacons who sat on my ordination council in May 0f 2005. Pastor Green gave a devotion later during the Baccalaureate service and after the service asked me to fill the pulpit this Sunday (May 18th, 2008). We were both encouraged by the invitation and gladly accepted.

We were amazed when we actually arrived at the church as there were quite a few members who we already knew. Many were Leslie's coworkers at Hawthorn Bank and others were the leaders of the Pacemakers 4-H horse club that I was a part of in middle school.

This being the first time that I preached at First Baptist, the Lord led me to preach from 2 Corinthians 5:17-20. This is one of my favorite passages to preach and quite possible one of the best missions and evangelism passages in all of Scripture. The passage explains that the change in every believer's life and the reconciling work of Christ demands that we act as His ambassadors in our community and in the world. What an awesome challenge! It is also a great passage that opens the door for us to share how the Lord has changed our lives and what He is doing in our ministry to rodeo and rural America.

Leslie and I had a great time as I preached the Word and got acquainted with many of the members. We look forward to developing a lasting ministry relationship with First Baptist Church of Cleveland over the next few months and years!

Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church's Rodeo Roundup - May 17th, 2008

Saturday, May 17th, 2008, we had the opportunity to help our home church, Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church, with their annual outreach ministry called "Rodeo Roundup."

Rodeo Roundup was an outreach that was envisioned by Pleasant Prairie's pastor, Jim Tompkins, as a community event that targets children, teens, and adults with rodeo "events" such as a stick horse barrel race and cow patty toss. In addition to the events the church also had a moonwalk, a Mighty Bucky (a bronc and bull simulator on loan from the Fellowship of Christian Cowboys), cotton candy and all the major components of a local fair.

While we had thirty or so Pleasant Prairie members to help with each station there were probably 50-60 families that visited. While Pleasant Prairie uses this outreach as an opportunity to let local people see our church in outreach action it was, more importantly, an opportunity to present the Gospel to a large group of families.

Our pastor asked me to give a short devotion with a Gospel presentation about halfway through the day's activities. The passage that I preached from was Judges 16 and the account of Sampson and Delilah. This is a message that I preach quite often in outreach settings as it is a great account of a man's weaknesses, his fall, his repentance, and how the Lord was able to use him in his confessed state to achieve a mighty goal. I believe that Samson's story is one that believers and unbelievers alike can relate to and one that can help challenge anyone to develop a strong and healthy relationship with the Lord.

As with many of our outreach ministries, the Lord will show us the fruit (if He wills) over the next few weeks, months, and years. Please continue to be in prayer for those that heard Gospel for the first time and either made a commitment or felt the Holy Spirit's prodding - that they will take a bold step to contact our church as they attempt to develop a relationship with Christ.

For more pictures of this ministry please click here...

Cass Midway High School Baccalaureate - May 4, 2008

I had the opportunity last Sunday to address the 2008 graduating class of Cass Midway High School at their Baccalaureate Service. This was a unique opportunity for us and we counted it an honor to even be considered! Oddly enough, the Lord has given us the opportunity to minister at some of the largest and grandest rodeos in the country but we rarely have any opportunities to reach out in our home community of Cass County. Cass Midway itself is a rural school district located in central Cass County. It is such a small district that all grades in the district are housed in one building.

The service itself was organized by several local Baptist churches. Many of these pastors had a part in the service. For my part, I challenged the students with the text of 1 Kings 18 and the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. This passage deals with Elijah's challenge to the people of Israel to serve the Lord and deny the worship of the false god Baal and his prophets. From this passage, my encouragement to the students was avoid doing the "cool" thing (wherever you may find yourself over the next few years) and make a stand for the Lord! Elijah was one man who was willing to be faithful in following the Lord's leading and the direct result was that the entire nation of Israel (which would have numbered in the millions) turned their hearts back to the Lord.

That was the result of the Lord's work through only one man! Imagine what can happen in America each one of these students were willing to make the same stand. That is my prayer!

Click here to view pictures from this ministry...

Casting a Vision at Pleasant Prairie

May 3rd, 2008 we had the opportunity to share with our home church, Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church, in determining and casting the church's vision. The Strategic Leadership Team, essentially the core group of our church, met and discussed and argued over who and where our church wants to be in five years. While it seemed, at times, that our discussions were circular and not advancing at the rate that we would have liked, our pastor and the entire team arrived at a conclusion that only the Holy Spirit could have led us to. Pleasant Prairie's five year vision is...

Pleasant Prairie Baptist Church desires to serve Christ as empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit through prayer and His Word demonstrating the reality of Christ through ministry teams reaching our community and beyond.

As our pastor remarked, that is an outward vision. I believe that the Lord is preparing Pleasant Prairie to turn northeastern Cass County upside down for the Lord! Observe and learn!