Growing up somewhat in the country, our parents involved us in a group called 4-H. This is an organization whose mission was ‘to encourage youth to reach their fullest potential’, where you learn and compete through things like raising and showing animals, cooking, sewing, and much, much more. I learned to cook and sew through this organization, but my favorite part was raising and showing a pony and some horses.
When it was my turn to raise and show a pony in the 4-H system, we looked for the perfect pony. My older sisters had already raised a couple of ponies that they broke and taught to pull carts, and they had shown them in the local 4-H Fair. These ponies were like big dogs, they were part of our family although one was super sweet and the other… was not. As my dad began to think about finding me a little Shetland pony, he decided instead of taking our chances on a random pony out there, we would have that sweet pony, Penny, have a foal (a baby pony). For eleven months we anticipated the arrival of our newest family member. Every morning I would go out to feed the animals, I would check to see if our new pony had arrived.
One really cold Montana morning when I went out to feed the animals, I searched everywhere for our pregnant pony. I looked in all the corrals, the three pastures that we had, and began to search the barn. My dad noticed I was taking way too long to finish my morning chores. We had a Big Yellow Barn that had three sections; one was for the animals and tack, the middle section was filled with bales of hay, and the last section was for ‘storage’. My dad found me going through the tack room in the animal section of the barn. He moved on to search the barn for the missing pony. He hadn’t been gone long when I heard him call my name. I followed his voice into the middle section of the barn that was full of hay. I tried to follow his voice, but I could not find him. I remembered that my sister and I had rearranged a few bales of hay to build a ‘fort’ in the bales of hay. As I approached the fort, I not only found my dad, but there was Penny the pony with her new colt. He was so tiny and so cute. This momma pony found refuge from the weather and the other animals in the hay. My dad and I moved several bales of hay, broke a bale up to make a nice soft bed for the new foal and momma in the front of the haystack in the middle section of the barn. I was late for school that morning, but the lost pony was found.
“For You have been a defense for the helpless, A defense for the needy in his distress, A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the breath of the ruthless Is like a rain storm against a wall.” Isaiah 25:4
That Big Yellow Barn was an icon on the outside of town, everyone could see the Big Yellow Barn from the highway. That night that sweet little pony knew she needed to find refuge in the Big Yellow Barn from the cold as she was bringing a new foal into the world. Our Big Yellow barn became a refuge for many; it was huge and sturdy, it protected our animals, the hay, our saddles and other tack, as well as our things in storage from the cold, the heat, the rain and the snow. You see, God is like that Big Yellow Barn. He is our refuge; He keeps us safe, no matter what comes our way. That night that sweet pony knew where to go. Today, we don’t need to crawl over and through bales of hay, we just need to turn to God in prayer and ask Him to protect us.
