Bare Back on Burros – Bruised and Bitten – Blessings: We had been working hard on a new obstacle course that will illustrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ with eight different elements. After having cleared the land, we decided to ride donkeys back to the area in order to see the progress. This served two goals, exercise for the animals and a fun time for us after a hard day of work.
Everything was going great after the stubborn animals were finally mounted. Just getting on them becomes an adventure when they are not used to being rode much. We had to chase them for awhile and then finally got through to them that this was not a game of chase, but rather they were to work now at carrying us for the next two miles.
Two out of the three donkeys actually headed in the right direction; we still have not seen the third and his rider—I am sure they will return some day. Just kidding, we saw them as we walked home (yes, we walked home, we did not ride our donkeys home).
It was turning into a great ride. We were headed up the steepest part of the trail, which is also the rockiest and the area with the most cactus. What is about to happen next could not have happened in a worse spot. My donkey, which was leading, decided that he was not going any higher and without even asking me, he pirouetted and headed down the hill. No problem, I hung on and put on my missionary determination; I was going to win.
In my donkey’s quick turn, he ran into the donkey behind me and became irritated and did what any irritated donkey on a steep trail full of rocks and cactus would do—he bit the leg of the rider behind him. Now there are two grown men screaming—one because his donkey is panicking and running full speed down a rocky cactus-filled hill, and the other because a fleeing donkey has just clamped into his thigh and was refusing to let go.
What could we do? He reached into my donkey’s mouth with both hands and tried to release the vice-like jaws, all the while trying to stay on top of his donkey. By now both donkeys have turned and are heading down hill—our hands are now trying to free the bitten rider instead of holding on—we fall, the donkeys run…and run…and run. When we get up, we are amazed at how a pleasant trip had so quickly turned so bizarre.
We watched as the dust cloud formed by biting, kicking, panicking, running burros got further and further away. We began to walk the mile back home, nursing wounds and pulling out cactus spines. What else could we do but laugh?
Lesson learned: The blessing that God brought out of all of this? Well, no camper will get bit this summer. We will use a bridle system on the donkeys that will prevent them from being able to bite another rider. Thank you, Lord, for a great object lesson. Oh, just to close the story, we rounded them up using an ATV and a dog! Every one is safe, the cactus spines have been removed, the cuts are beginning to heal and the bruise from the bite—well, it isn’t as big as I thought it was going to get, and we met the third rider as we walked back home—he was having a great ride.
Allen Owens, Mexico