Cowboy Bob's Campfire Conversations - Cowboy Bob and the Bunny Buckle

Cowboy Bob's Campfire Conversations Cowboy Campfire

Table of Contents

Cowboy Bob and the Bouncin' Bovine
The Philmont Mountain Lion
The Dyin' Gunfighter
The Truth About Wild Horses
Bunc Bradshaw and the Mexican Captain
The Cowboy's Wardrobe
Some Other Cowboy Paraphernalia
The First Bulldogger
God's Bit and Bridle
The Adventures of Cheyenne Dawson
Louis Remme's Wild Ride
Cowboy Bob: Movie Star
Cowboy Bob and the Bunny Buckle
The Real Transcontinental Railroad

Mountaintop Experiences

I have to confess that I've never really understood the phrase "a mountaintop experience." A mountaintop experience is usually described as a spiritually high moment, usually associated with feelings of intense happiness and well-being. Well, I've been on several mountaintops, and I've never had an experience like that. My mountaintop experiences were generally accompanied by feelings like fear, fatigue, dehydration and an eagerness to get down off that mountain as quickly as possible.

Mount Phillips view south from the southern false summit to Angel Fire Ski Area One such experience happened when I was a Boy Scout at the Philmont Boy Scout camp in northern New Mexico. The crew I was with was hiking over the peak of Clear Creek Mountain, which, we were told, was 11,711 feet tall. A couple of years after I was there, the name was changed to Mt. Phillips in honor of the man who gave the huge ranch to the Boy Scouts. I'll be calling it Mt. Phillips because it's simply easier to say. In recent years, with modern GPS measuring and laser scanning, they've discovered that the mountain is actually 11,742 feet tall. I'm glad I didn't know that back when I was a Scout, because I don't think I could have made that last 31 feet.

The top of Mount Phillips is above the tree line. Very little can survive there. It is bleak, rocky, swept by strong winds, and a frequent target of lightning during the thunderstorms that hit the area nearly every afternoon. At more than two miles above sea level, the air is thin, and it can even be hard to breathe. Mount Phillips is the second-tallest peak in that part of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, and you can see parts of the Texas Panhandle and the San Juan Range in Colorado from there, but the view consists mostly of a bunch of other equally barren mountain tops. Not that I really wanted to look at anything other than my boots, because falling from that mountain top would bring certain death.

Oh, and there can be some bears around. Standing on that mountain top also meant that I was only half-way to the next camp, and had to descend as far as I had climbed. It was a memorable, but not exactly pleasant, experience.

Being down in a valley, on the other hand, for me means relaxing in a peaceful setting, far from the day's toil and danger. I could perhaps sit near a clear stream, next to a campfire, and enjoy a hot meal. A mountaintop, on the other hand, often offers neither food nor water -- and little wood for a fire.

A valley is where I can rest, even when surrounded by enemies.

Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

So, what's so great about a mountaintop experience?

Moses had one when he was caring for his father-in-law's sheep in the wilderness.

Exodus 3 NIV
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."
5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."
6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

As we learn in the next chapter of Exodus, this mountaintop experience left Moses terrified at the thought of attempting to do what God had commanded. He would have been shaking in his sandals -- except he had taken his sandals off.

Later, when the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai, Moses had a really grueling mountaintop experience -- with no food or water, and surrounded by a thick cloud, for 40 days.

Exodus 24:18 NIV
18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Moses had another mountaintop experience when he died after catching a mere glimpse of the Promised Land he had struggled toward for 40 years.

Deuteronomy 3:23-27
23 At that time I pleaded with the LORD:
24 "Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?
25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon."
26 But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough," the LORD said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.
27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan."

So, what's so great about a mountaintop experience?

Elijah had one when he had to face down the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, and then fled from Jezebel's wrath. That mountaintop experience left Elijah wishing he were dead.

1 Kings 19:4-15
4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers."
5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat."
6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
7 And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, "Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you."
8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
10 He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away."
11 And he said, "Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
14 He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away."
15 And the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

So, what's so great about a mountaintop experience?

Jesus had one when Satan subjected him to one of his wilderness temptations.

Matthew 4:8 NIV
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

Jesus had another mountaintop experience on Mt. Olivet.

Luke 22:39-44
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.
40 On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,
42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

And Jesus had perhaps the ultimate mountaintop experience on the hill called Golgotha.

So, what's so great about a mountaintop experience?

I think it may lie in the fact that on the mountaintop we're brought face-to-face with our greatest fears, our greatest needs, our greatest weaknesses. And there, surrounded by a scene of God's creative power, we learn that His great love can bring us safely back to a place of rest and comfort.

Moses, Elijah, and Jesus all had some very unpleasant mountaintop experiences, but God brought them through those times and eventually gave all three an incredible mountaintop experience.

Matthew 17:1-9
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.
7 But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don’t be afraid."
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Peter, James and John may have been afraid of this mountaintop experience, but it also meant that, at long last, Moses was actually able to stand in the Promised Land.

Perhaps the key to understanding a mountaintop experience lies in the fact that no matter how unpleasant our mountaintop experiences may be, God is faithful and will eventually answer us from His "Holy Mountain."

Psalm 3:1-6 NIV
1 LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him."
3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

Maybe the value of a mountaintop experience is that it's when we come to the end of our human strength and ability and come face-to-face with God's great majesty and power. On a mountaintop, we realize just how weak and powerless we really are, and how God can provide the things we need and lack.

Photo of view south from the southern false summit of Mount Phillips to Angel Fire Ski Area courtesy of Glhann17 [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons.

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