If God Had Chosen Cowboys

If God Had Chosen Cowboys BY STEVE LUCAS

If God had chosen cowboys, instead of those fellers herdin’ sheep To welcome the Baby Jesus while the world was fast asleep Would the Christmas story and the carols that we sing Be a little different; maybe have a different ring?

When the cowboys got the message from them angels heard on high They’d have ridden into town, shootin’ their pistols in the sky And thundered to the stable bathed in that star’s bright light I’m telllin’ you boys, it would not have been a silent night

And little town of Bethlehem, you would not lie still When the cows, spooked by the angels, stampeded over the hill And that bunch of rowdy cowboys had to turn ‘em all around And not quit lookin’ until every calf was found

Then come back into town, and belly up to the bar To buy a round for them kings who’d travelled from afar The next morning on the mountain, they’d tell outfits far and near About the angels, and the stampede, and the Saviour who’d come here

“The Lord is my cowboy ...” would begin the most familiar Psalm, and The parable of the lost calf is the story that would calm The sad and lonely cowboy spending Christmas on the trail If God had chosen cowboys to headline the Christmas tale.

Steve Lucas, a native of Wyoming, and Margaret Ann, his wife, run ninety commercial Hereford cows and their calves on a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.