September 18, 2021 – Dayspring Disciples

We saw the signs for the rodeo pop up a few weeks ago. Tracking down details was not easy, but we found the address and time, and that was good enough.

It took longer to get in to park than it did to drive there.

There were a few thousand people, a bunch of bleachers, space for lawn chairs, enough food trucks to feed barely 10% of the guests, some porta-potties, and the kind of fun I wouldn’t miss for the world.

People packed shoulder to shoulder. No masks. No temperature checking. There may have been hand sanitizer here and there.

The MC for the night started with a military salute. He followed it up with a more authentic prayer than I’ve heard in a lot of “official” places. Finally we all stood for the national anthem. There wasn’t a knee in the crowd.

More than one of my kids commented after the event that THIS was why we left NY. I’m sure Satan is working overtime to spread the corruption to every nook and cranny of this country, but for tonight it felt great to be here.

BUT – The best part of the night was when the calf roping event started and the first cowboy came out of the gate, lassoed the calf, hurried over and flipped the calf on its side to tie it up and Johanna and Katriel absolutely lost their minds. I would pay to see that again. I am laughing so hard here as I type it. Katriel started yelling, “What are they doing? What are they doing?” in stunned disbelief and Johanna just let out a shriek of horror. It was definitely one of the most satisfying moments in recent memory. They recovered. The people in front of us were laughing so hard. Then they saw the kids come out and untie the calf and all was good.