A dear friend who lives in Texas published this in her newsletter and has given me permission to share it. Be sure to read to the end! Yahoo! Thank you, Dona for sharing with us!

It is called a sorting. Pronounce that sortin’. Team Sortin’.

Take some cattle. Eleven at a time to be exact. Number them 0 through 9. Like this . . .

The eleventh one remains numberless and is called “the trash cow.”

Form teams of two cowboys or cowgirls . . .

Experience is definitely a plus.

The cattle are herded into a pen with an opening about 12′ to 16′ wide. Opposite that opening is an identical sized pen that is empty.

This is a timed event, usually 60 to 90 seconds. Two cowboys enter the area, as the nose of the first horse crosses the line between the two pens, the clock starts, the announcer randomly calls out a number and the cowboys quickly get to work.

Let’s say the number four is called. One team member and his horse try to block the opening (gate) while the other team member tries to get the number four cow cut away from the herd. As he runs number four through the gate he takes up the position of guarding the gate and the other cowboy goes after number five, runs it to the opening, swaps places with his team member who is heading for number six and so it continues – until either their time runs out, or a cow out of numerical order slips through the gate, or until – if they are really good – only the trash cow remains on the starting side before time is called.

It can get real excitin’.

Takes a considerable amount of skill by the rider and the horse . . .

And is a lot of fun to watch . . .

The Bible describes a sorting, too, in easy terms so we can understand. The final judgment. It is described in Matthew 25:31-46. Verses 31-33 read, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.” (ESV) One group will go away into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, the other group will be blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

Serious stuff.

Are we ready? And are we doing our part to make sure our family and friends are ready? ‘Cause when that sortin’ comes there won’t be any slippin’ through the gate on the sly.