RIVER RIDGE RANCH RULE #6
This is my favorite rule for the ranch. It has the most "cowboy" in it of all of them!
It's a mindset all athletes have as well. As an old baseball coach, my teams were built on grinding at bats, diving for baseballs and out hustling bigger and better teams.
THE WILL MUST BE STRONGER THAN THE SKILL
Here are some of the lyrics from a great song by Josh Ward called "A Cowboy Can" that explains grit and perseverance:
I wouldn't wish this on the faint of heart
'Cause I know it ain't for everyone
Some folks might try to look the part
We don't do this just for fun
It's every part of who I am
I've got no quit runnin' through my veins
It ain't an easy way to make a buck
But at the end of the day
A cowboy can, a real cowboy will
Turn his collar up high with his back to
The wind, and sling that saddle on again
Well the nights get cold and the highway never ends
Not many folks can live this life, but a cowboy can...
In the book, Trails Best traveled, Jack takes the men up the Manitou Incline in Colorado, where their internal grit is challenged.
There is a point where two men react in different ways. Here is their conversation:
Cody calmly asked Reed, “What’s going with you?”
“I’m sick of being tested by Jack and all the situations he puts us in,” Reed barked.
“I’m supposed to learn some great lesson about myself choking and coughing up a mountain?”
Cody considered his options. He then said, “You are right back to when we first met bailing hay.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Reed shot back in anger.
“Whenever you think you’re exposed, you get angry, like you are doing right now.”
“How are you not ticked off? Jack put you on this mountain with one leg!”
“The difference between you and me is that you blame everyone else when things go wrong. You never look at yourself in the mirror.”
“I don’t need to sit here and take this. I just want to get off this mountain. If I could, I’d pay an Uber to take me back to my car, pack up, and get out of here.”
“You can’t control the situation and don’t like the outcome, so you want to pack up your stuff and go home.” Cody speared the other man with a firm look. “Did you even bother to watch the video Jack sent about preparing for this climb?”
“It’s not like I have a ton of free time, Cody.”
“Well, I did, and I also watched one of an army veteran with no legs climb Manitou with his friends in the snow. Drug his stumps up and over rocks, gravel and wet snow for 2750 steps to the summit. So I knew how hard it was going to be, and I knew the price it was going to cost. I showed you my steel leg at the feed supply store. Do you need me to take off the leg and show you what my stump looks like right now?”
Reed suddenly looked away. Cody continued, “How much did you train to get in shape for this weekend?”
“Like I said, I run a demanding business and have a family.”
“So the answer is you did nothing, right?”
“What’s your point, Cody?” Reed asked, his tone escalating again.
“My point is, if you want to be mad, it should be at yourself, not Jack. That was so disrespectful how you talked to him. If there weren’t people all around, I’d have smacked you back down this mountain one step at a time.”
Reed knew he would not stand a chance if Cody wanted to blow up on him, bloody stump or not. He also knew that it was true. It was a moment of clarity he needed. After a bit of silence, Reed turned to Cody and asked, “How are you going to get off the mountain?”
Cody looked at Reed with a grin and said, “I don’t think you’re going to like my answer.”
Reed shook his head. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I knew there was no way I was making it to the summit with the way the steel fits into my leg. I didn’t have time to get the special padding they make to handle this kind of continual stress. But I made a vow to make it halfway. I knew that was more than I should go, but I vowed to myself I’d make it that far. I wish I could explain the mental grind of each step. It’s like a knife going into my leg each time I put pressure on it. The end of my leg is raw. It’s not gonna get any worse, just more painful. Now it’s just a matter of mental endurance. When Jack said the will must be stronger than the skill, I knew exactly what he meant. I know it looks like he went overboard putting us through this, but we had to experience it. It wouldn’t help us if he would have just written the saying on a whiteboard in a meeting.”
Cody, gathering his last thoughts, added, “Jack’s a coach, always will be. Coaches help players get to levels they don’t know are possible. They tell us things we may not want to hear, see things in us we cannot see, and help us become more than we ever thought possible. We might not understand their methods at the time. But there comes a day when we recognize that the strong man, loving father, and faithful friend we have become, has a lot to do with the coaches and mentors God brought into our lives.”
We all want to know if we have what it takes. Can we overcome adversity? Lean into the wind when times are tough? It's a learned skill, one that will only acquire by going through the tough times of life.
It's true that tough times don't last, but tough people do. As a Christian, we have the warrior heart of God in us. We can go a lot farther and a lot longer than we think.
You my friend, thanks to God almighty, have "no quit running through your veins" just like a cowboy!