Written after an observer attended the funeral of our friend, Denley Norman
This is an account written about one of the friends who was killed recently. The writer is not one of us, but is very respectful of our way of life & beliefs. The website of the wife of the man who was killed is very nice & you can see a photo of her as well as one of him on a horse near a river with the full reflection of the horse.
Anita Schwan
Dear friends,
I have a lot on my heart tonight and just wanted to share it with some of you who may get something from it.
We went to Lusk today for the funeral of Denley Norman, a young man of 44 who was killed when a horse flipped over backward and broke his neck on Wednesday afternoon. Leaves a wife and two little girls, maybe 8 and 10 or so. He was a great horseman, and had already worked on many of the major top ranches in the nation -- the Bell in NM; the Padlock in WY; Haythorn Ranch in NE; Buster Welch in TX; and most recently Pfister Ranches in WY and SD.
The horse had been acting up all morning as they worked cattle in the pens, and when they turned the cattle out and rode out to trail them to another pasture the horse suddenly threw a fit and fell over backward, landing on him and breaking his neck, causing instant death. I guess one of his close friends who was working with the guys went to his pickup and got his gun and killed the horse right then and there.
They are members of a "house church" group, and there was a huge, huge crowd for the funeral, nearly filled the high school auditorium. I was so impressed by the looks and attitude of most of the people . . . Those who were of the church, and they were from Idaho, all over New Mexico, Billings, Sheridan, and all over Nebraska. The women all had long hair done up stylish and attractive. They dressed modestly, quite fashionable, some sleeveless and short sleeved tops on the younger women, but nothing at all immodest. I complimented a lot of the young girls how beautiful they looked and what a statement they make of filling the role of helpmate to men rather than tools of Satan to tempt and to trap by dressing in the immodest styles of today. It was really refreshing to see such a huge group on a very hot day without inappropriate displays of skin!
I think we see the short shorts and barely tops so much we almost get numb to it and cease to be so horribly offended . . . But seeing this moderation so tastefully displayed in a big group really made the contrast stand out!
The message was shared by 3 young men who knew Denley well and all wept a little as they spoke. They gently, reverently (I felt in the way Jesus would've done it) reminded the big crowd that in addition to us being there for Denley, this day was for each of us not to push away the questions and feelings this incident brought to us, but to deal with them and let them bring us closer to Christ. The main one spoke of how a diamond is just a rock, until it is cut, how pain can be good for us as in the rock being cut to release the beauty, and then even after being cut the diamond has to be brought into the light" to display the beauty . . . Great analogies - he spoke from Isaiah and Ecclesiastes and Ephesians 5, etc.
As opposed to some funerals I've suffered through where they beat you over the head with "salvation" for a full hour (causing the un-churched to determine never to be churched) it was beautiful and refreshing, and you could feel the Holy Spirit so sweet in it. A group of 4 or 5 sang a couple beautiful acapello hymns; then there was a graveside hymn printed on the memorial card and the voices were so sweet and strong throughout the big crowd on that green hillside it seemed a touch of heaven.
We know some people who are in that house church group here, in fact their son was one of the singers; I had no idea it was so widespread and had such a following. I asked a man from NM what church it was, if it might be Mennonite, and he said, "We are non-denominational." It’s great to know Lisa has such a strong community of faith to lean on through this tough time
You can find her at www.imageswest.com to see what talent she has, and to have a face to pray for.
Just recently Frank Holmes, our partner in Loft Enterprises, the book publishing business, arranged with Lisa to use a photo of hers on the subscription website "Horses . . . Heroes . . . History" which we're about launch. It is of a cowboy on a horse which is drinking from a pond, and his entire reflection shows back from the water.
I knew nothing of this -- when I emailed Frank to tell him of the accident and see if he knew of Lisa (figured he would thru her great book on the Haythorn Ranch) he wrote back that he'd met her and Denley when he went to Haythorn's to do a story on the ranch many years ago, before she did her book.
Then he told me he had just arranged to use this photo and said, "Maybe it is even of Denley?" He sent me the rough draft of the web home page and I got chills . . . the symbolism of that reflection now that Denley is gone (yes, it's a photo she took of him) and feeling that God knew even before this happened that Lisa was going to need another source of income.
Frank hopes now he can do an article on her and her work on the website and offer her original art, books, prints, notecards, etc. through the website
-- God has pulled Christians together for our entire Loft group; people who never knew each other; His plans are so perfect and this is just such a picture of some of His provision for Lisa and her girls even before they knew they needed it . . . and His allowing us to be involved is so amazing.
When we walked into the school auditorium today for the service there was a 3' x 5' copy of that photo of Denley and his horse reflected in the pond.... talk about chills.... It’s like God was showing Lisa right then how Denley will always be with her, but from now until Heaven he’s just in the reflections….
Sorry I'm babbling so . . . it's just really exciting to see how God is preparing a people who are "in the world, but not of it"; and to be encouraged to be that kind of people all the time ourselves. The world is watching and needing to know the Good News before it's too late!!
Hope I didn't bore you with all this . . . it's a tragic truth of our ranching lifestyle that we face life and death situations every day in our work, and but for the grace of God, this funeral could've been any one of ours . . . and it seemed like the ranching community really turned out for this funeral in recognition of that.
Hope you all have a great Sunday, we love ya'!
I have a lot on my heart tonight and just wanted to share it with some of you who may get something from it.
We went to Lusk today for the funeral of Denley Norman, a young man of 44 who was killed when a horse flipped over backward and broke his neck on Wednesday afternoon. Leaves a wife and two little girls, maybe 8 and 10 or so. He was a great horseman, and had already worked on many of the major top ranches in the nation -- the Bell in NM; the Padlock in WY; Haythorn Ranch in NE; Buster Welch in TX; and most recently Pfister Ranches in WY and SD.
The horse had been acting up all morning as they worked cattle in the pens, and when they turned the cattle out and rode out to trail them to another pasture the horse suddenly threw a fit and fell over backward, landing on him and breaking his neck, causing instant death. I guess one of his close friends who was working with the guys went to his pickup and got his gun and killed the horse right then and there.
They are members of a "house church" group, and there was a huge, huge crowd for the funeral, nearly filled the high school auditorium. I was so impressed by the looks and attitude of most of the people . . . Those who were of the church, and they were from Idaho, all over New Mexico, Billings, Sheridan, and all over Nebraska. The women all had long hair done up stylish and attractive. They dressed modestly, quite fashionable, some sleeveless and short sleeved tops on the younger women, but nothing at all immodest. I complimented a lot of the young girls how beautiful they looked and what a statement they make of filling the role of helpmate to men rather than tools of Satan to tempt and to trap by dressing in the immodest styles of today. It was really refreshing to see such a huge group on a very hot day without inappropriate displays of skin!
I think we see the short shorts and barely tops so much we almost get numb to it and cease to be so horribly offended . . . But seeing this moderation so tastefully displayed in a big group really made the contrast stand out!
The message was shared by 3 young men who knew Denley well and all wept a little as they spoke. They gently, reverently (I felt in the way Jesus would've done it) reminded the big crowd that in addition to us being there for Denley, this day was for each of us not to push away the questions and feelings this incident brought to us, but to deal with them and let them bring us closer to Christ. The main one spoke of how a diamond is just a rock, until it is cut, how pain can be good for us as in the rock being cut to release the beauty, and then even after being cut the diamond has to be brought into the light" to display the beauty . . . Great analogies - he spoke from Isaiah and Ecclesiastes and Ephesians 5, etc.
As opposed to some funerals I've suffered through where they beat you over the head with "salvation" for a full hour (causing the un-churched to determine never to be churched) it was beautiful and refreshing, and you could feel the Holy Spirit so sweet in it. A group of 4 or 5 sang a couple beautiful acapello hymns; then there was a graveside hymn printed on the memorial card and the voices were so sweet and strong throughout the big crowd on that green hillside it seemed a touch of heaven.
We know some people who are in that house church group here, in fact their son was one of the singers; I had no idea it was so widespread and had such a following. I asked a man from NM what church it was, if it might be Mennonite, and he said, "We are non-denominational." It’s great to know Lisa has such a strong community of faith to lean on through this tough time
You can find her at www.imageswest.com to see what talent she has, and to have a face to pray for.
Just recently Frank Holmes, our partner in Loft Enterprises, the book publishing business, arranged with Lisa to use a photo of hers on the subscription website "Horses . . . Heroes . . . History" which we're about launch. It is of a cowboy on a horse which is drinking from a pond, and his entire reflection shows back from the water.
I knew nothing of this -- when I emailed Frank to tell him of the accident and see if he knew of Lisa (figured he would thru her great book on the Haythorn Ranch) he wrote back that he'd met her and Denley when he went to Haythorn's to do a story on the ranch many years ago, before she did her book.
Then he told me he had just arranged to use this photo and said, "Maybe it is even of Denley?" He sent me the rough draft of the web home page and I got chills . . . the symbolism of that reflection now that Denley is gone (yes, it's a photo she took of him) and feeling that God knew even before this happened that Lisa was going to need another source of income.
Frank hopes now he can do an article on her and her work on the website and offer her original art, books, prints, notecards, etc. through the website
-- God has pulled Christians together for our entire Loft group; people who never knew each other; His plans are so perfect and this is just such a picture of some of His provision for Lisa and her girls even before they knew they needed it . . . and His allowing us to be involved is so amazing.
When we walked into the school auditorium today for the service there was a 3' x 5' copy of that photo of Denley and his horse reflected in the pond.... talk about chills.... It’s like God was showing Lisa right then how Denley will always be with her, but from now until Heaven he’s just in the reflections….
Sorry I'm babbling so . . . it's just really exciting to see how God is preparing a people who are "in the world, but not of it"; and to be encouraged to be that kind of people all the time ourselves. The world is watching and needing to know the Good News before it's too late!!
Hope I didn't bore you with all this . . . it's a tragic truth of our ranching lifestyle that we face life and death situations every day in our work, and but for the grace of God, this funeral could've been any one of ours . . . and it seemed like the ranching community really turned out for this funeral in recognition of that.
Hope you all have a great Sunday, we love ya'!
Ride in the sunshine, Rhonda
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