THE PHOTOGRAPH PART 3: TAKE COVER

By Doug Ford, DVM, Production Animal Consultation, & Greg Quakenbush, DVM, Geissler Corp.

July 29, 2018 was a beautiful, calm, peaceful sunny day and coincidentally our youngest son’s birthday. All appeared perfect, looking like there would never be another bad day. As I walked back to the house about 4:00 pm after a great day working in my shop, I recall waving to Jan and cheerfully commenting, “We’re almost there, babe!” It looked like our aggressive 13-year renovation project (The Photograph) was finally coming to an amazing close. The words barely cleared my lips when a steady brutal wind came out of nowhere, followed by heavy dark clouds moving in from the northeast.

The weather went from 0 to 90 in a matter of minutes. In that moment, I deliberately worked my way towards the house to batten down the hatches like I had done so many times over the years. As suddenly as the winds developed, they abruptly idled to an easy calm. In the distance, I could hear Jan’s cell phone broadcasting an urgent warning. The National Weather Service in Denver was warning, “Take cover now!” I recall the message was not the usual weather warning or watch that we had heard so many times over the past 20 years. It was a distinct, “TAKE COVER NOW!” Conflicted, I walked to the dining room window looking to the east, thinking, “This is so dumb. I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.” Certainly not a tornado! I again walked outside greeted by calm overcast skies and no apparent funnel clouds in sight. I walked back inside to the dining room window thinking, “Another crazy false alarm.”

At exactly 4:29 pm as I looked east, a lone softballsize hail stone hit the window directly in front of me. I remember thinking to myself, “Hey college boy, this may not be a great place to stand.” In a split-second, baseball- to softball-size hail came horizontally from the northeast at terminal velocity mixed with torrential rain. In that moment Jan and I had nowhere to go. We were trapped, along for the ride with no seat belts or off ramp. We made our way downwind to the kitchen refrigerator on an inside modular home wall. We strategically positioned our bodies against the refrigerator like we had learned 65 years ago in the 1st grade during the days of the Cold War and Cuban Nuclear Crisis (“remember duck and cover”). In less than a heartbeat, all the windows on the north and east side of the house were gone and 160 mph winds were taking out the windows from inside the house on the west side. We didn’t have to find the dog and cat; they found us. After a few seconds, it became apparent we needed to be face down flat on the floor as 4” hail stones, large knife-size shards of glass, and assorted debris ping ponged through the width of the 30’ wide house from east to west. I later learned the tornado was almost a mile wide traveling from Cheyenne, Wyoming, southeast to Lamar, Colorado. The entire ordeal lasted almost 5 minutes. The longest 5 minutes of my life.

As suddenly as the storm came, it was gone. Jan and I rose from our foxhole on the kitchen floor to see the war zone that was the interior of our beautiful home. I didn’t see Matt Dillon or Miss Kitty, but the entire house resembled the aftermath of a major cowboy brawl at the Long Branch in Dodge City. Fist-size holes in the walls, broken furniture, broken mirrors, and window glass everywhere.

As we cautiously peered outside, our beautiful homestead literally looked like the surface of the moon. Trees were stripped of bark and every leaf. There was standing water everywhere after the 6 inches of rain. Pieces of roof, siding, rain gutters, assorted debris, tree limbs, and hay bales were scattered for a quarter mile.

Jan’s car even experienced hail damage in the garage. Every bird for several miles lay dead on the ground. For weeks, a decaying smell lingered over our property from dead deer, racoons, coyotes, and other animals. A small herd of our spring calving cows on pasture by the house were covered with welts, bruises, open bloody sores, swollen eyes and heads. I’m sure when the hides were pulled at slaughter, they looked like a terminal grub infestation

Unfortunately, the next 14 months would be spent dealing with insurance companies and contractors. I never realized what a struggle and all-consuming process it would be restoring our property and lives back to a normal state. Progress on the $750,000 insurance claim moved at a snail’s pace. This claim did not include loss of crops, pasture, or sprinkler damage. Most of the time we were out of pocket for months, waiting for insurance company reimbursements. Our local agent was a true blessing dealing with the frustrating claims system. The OSB over our window openings didn’t afford much protection from the winter elements from December to February. Remarkably, to this day we still find broken glass.

What I have been privileged to learn over the past 17 years is to trust God’s unwavering will and grace for my life. Life is about choices, but God is in control. Proverbs 16:9 says, “Man plots his course, but the Lord establishes his steps.” For a time in my life, I actually thought I was in control, what a fool believes! Five minutes face down on the kitchen floor will truly and forever redirect your perspective on who is in charge. I continue to renew my mind and attitude daily, reminding myself it is not happening TO me but FOR me. God’s word proclaims he is taking us from Glory to Glory. His perfect plan and will are always on cue. The journey of Glory to Glory is about preparation not punishment. It’s about patience, persistence, and perspective. It’s about God’s glorious “protection” and His will for our lives. The past 17 years in Snyder, Colorado, have been an incredible platform for the cultivation and restoration of my personal and spiritual development. Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Digging Deeper

What “storms” or natural disasters have there been in your life? Few of us escape such events and as we fall

| get older, our chances of experiencing such an episode only increase.

The ultimate question is, “Where is God?” Where is God in the storm? Where is God in the disaster? Why does God allow such calamity and tragedy? In almost any given week, one can survey the news and find an earthquake, a tsunami, a hurricane, a tornado, a fire, a flood, or a drought. The loss of life, property, and livelihood ranges from minimal to catastrophic. So where is God?

The first and most important truth to consider is that this world is cursed. In the beginning (literally, Genesis 1) we read about the miraculous design God applied in the creation of the heavens and earth. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read where He used the term “good” seven separate times to describe His pleasure with what had been created.

By the time we get to Genesis 3, sin, evil, and death have come on the scene and poisoned paradise. All of this because Adam and Eve succumbed to choosing the lies of Satan over the truth and promises of God. This rebellion and disobedience of Adam and Eve and their subsequent separation from God is known theologically as “The Fall of Man”. This fall was caused by Adam’s sin and the curse that followed from God involved all of creation including man, animals, plants, and even the earth itself. So, by the actions of one man (Adam), all of mankind has been born under the curse and separated from God. Romans 5:12 explains it this way:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Understanding that we live in a cursed world, where does this leave us? This knowledge should help us better set our expectations for life on earth. A bumper sticker theologian has concluded: “Life is hard and then you die”. One might consider the apparent futility in all of this life and shake his fist at God. That too is of little consequence. God does not owe us anything. Romans 9:2021 states that God is the potter and we are the clay. The clay never calls the shots but is totally in the hands of the potter.

Doubters and critics have concluded that God is not involved in the affairs of men, or that He does not care. Some would go so far as to even suggest If God exists, He lacks the power to prevent disasters, natural or otherwise. If you agree with these thoughts, you are in alignment with Adam and the one that John 8:44 calls “the liar and the father of lies” (Satan).

A close study of the book of Genesis reveals that even as God was releasing a curse on all of mankind and creation, He was making provision for a rescue. If you think God is not involved in our struggles and pending death sentence, look no further than the cross. God’s plan for the rescue and salvation of man involved the death of His son, Jesus. It is in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that Satan was defeated and a way was opened to a new, never-ending paradise called “heaven”. Death was replaced with life, eternal life. Life as God always intended for us to enjoy (John 3:16). John 5:17 sums up the Adam versus Jesus contrast this way:

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

This verse from Romans says that those who belong to Christ are the recipients of God’s grace, His righteousness, and eternal life. While we do not have a full understanding of events outside our control, we can have the confidence that we are not alone. He is with us. This assurance helps us to view the storms and natural disasters through a new lens. A perspective where the struggle is not against us but is in play for our benefit.

Without the storms in life, we might have missed out on the following:

• Seeing the many amazing miracles that occurred during or following the course of a natural disaster.

• Realizing how small we really are and how dependent we are upon God to protect and sustain us.

• Grasping that we certainly are not in control.

• Appreciating the brevity of life and the uncertainty of life.

• The opportunity to assist, love, and care for others in their time of need.

• Finding out many of our so-called priorities are not priorities or need serious re-evaluation.

• Experiencing God providing for our care in ways that we could never imagine.

• The opportunity for the growth of our faith and trust in Him.

• Recognizing our ever-present need for Him in our lives.

We have all heard the somewhat humorless phrase, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” Few people who quote this adage likely give any Biblical or spiritual thought to the common sense and real-life application that it holds. Who of us have garnered any success in life without the benefit of hardship, struggles, difficulties, or setbacks? I would guess that number of individuals to be few. Difficulty is often the means that makes us better and sets the table for one to become humble and grateful.

The Word reminds us that storms and trials in life are to be expected. The intended consequence for those who belong to Christ is to see one’s faith and trust in Him grow. Faith involves trusting God for a future outcome that cannot initially be visibly seen. The height of trusting God is to see things that appear to be disastrous turned around and made into something for our good.

Additional Bible verses for your review and study:

James 1:2-4 (ESV) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ***

1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV) Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ***

Nahum 1:7 (ESV) The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Romans 12:12 (ESV) Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ***

John 16:33 (ESV) I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” ***

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV) So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Doug Ford, DVM is the owner of Beaver Creek Veterinary Clinic in Brush, Colorado. Doug earned his DVM degree from Colorado State University. Brush, Colorado has been his home since graduating from Colorado State. Doug’s practice has been remarkably diverse over 40 years of veterinary medicine. Dogs, cats, cow/calf, feedlot, two sale barns, and spaying thousands of heifers for grass. The last 20 years of practice has been 50% large western dairies and 50% beef cattle (spaying, cow/calf, and feedlots). In 2005, Doug was given the privilege to become one of the six founding members of PAC. Doug and his wife Jan ranch in their “spare” time. They are also heavily involved in a wetland’s development project on the South Platte River near Snyder, Colorado. Doug’s dad used to say, “Get your grades up. Do you want to grow up to be a ditch digger?” Doug had no idea how much fun it is to play in the dirt with dozers and track hoes. He feels truly blessed and believes that the best days are yet to come.

Greg Quakenbush, DVM is a 1978 graduate of Colorado State University and spent 16 years in large animal practice in Porterville, California. For 19 years, Dr. Q worked for Zoetis (Pfizer) and was Director of the US Cattle Technical Services team. Since 2013, Dr. Q has worked with the Geissler Corporation assisting in the development of new veterinary diagnostic technologies. Dr. Q enjoys Bible study, shooting sports, fly-fi shing, and being a part-time farmer growing citrus and nuts in the central valley of California.