Ephesians 2:5, 8 But, because of his great love for us, made us alive in Christ even though we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
TO KILL - BE KILLED OR
GO TO PRISON
When prison is the best option of these, you can only wonder what could be worse. Jeff Burkhart had no reason to be a “bad man” as he refers to himself in those early days, living for beer, woman and drugs. He was born in Gainesville, Texas in 1958 and admits he was from a very close knit family and was involved in horses growing up. In fact, he competed in high school rodeo and had a way with horses even then. He had a football scholarship to New Mexico State as a defensive quarterback. He won the bareback championship at the 1984 Marietta Rodeo. He married in November of 1978 and had a son and daughter. And for 14 years, he was an electrician and crane operator at DFW airport. He was then living in Roanoke, Texas and started hanging out with some very disrespectful people and started living a life where he was dealing in criminal activities. As in most illegal lifestyles, the deeper you go, the more ruthless the individuals you associate with. But, it doesn’t matter. Until you get caught.
Being a rather good looking and charming young man, Jeff was incarcerated and spent his time in jail, but at one time was able to talk himself into a choice of one year in a half-way house or 120 days in rehab. Jeff’s father was a police officer and Jeff never contacted him about the trouble he was in because he knew he did not deserve any help. On the last occasion after 34 days in Texas and 3 different jails, Jeff decided he was done with Texas. In the meantime, Jeff had gotten to know the “Jailhouse Jesus”. I am told that for many, incarceration is the only way some would ever hear about Salvation and do truly give their lives to the Lord. For others, “Jailhouse Jesus” is a way to con parole officers and judges into more lenient treatment and to get more options for release. But, this was where Jeff started to change. Also, while in jail, he had begun to put his time into writing poetry and allowing Jesus to start taking over his life.
In October of 1999, his aunt was managing a dude ranch in Arizona and although she didn’t really have a job for him, she told him if he could use a rake, he could come out and do some gardening. He loved the ranch and started spending time at the barn, doing odd jobs and working with the horses. He started taking people out on trail rides in the mountains and made a place for himself on the ranch.
He was still somewhat a party boy and drinking, one foot in Jesus and the other in his old life. But, Jeff but loved his job at the ranch. He was starting to get tired of the beer joints and on January 7, 2000, Thursday night at 10 PM he had written a poem for a lovely girl he had noticed a few times at a dance hall. He took a chance because he had seen that she didn’t smoke or drink and didn’t seem to be interested at all in him. But, at 2AM he gave her the poem and they exchanged phone numbers. He invited her and her 14 year old daughter to come out to the ranch and go riding. She agreed to come if he would go to church with her.
Jeff says she was an angel and his life truly took another drastic turn because she did, in fact, come to the ranch and ride. He did go to church with her. They were married in a beautiful ranch wedding later that year and are living today in Marietta, OK where Jeff came back to be near his family and start his horse business. Jeff is a living testimony to Jesus Christ and if you meet Jeff, you are going to hear about Jesus.
I met Jeff when he came to shoe my horses. Somehow the conversation turned to how much God had meant in to both our lives. Jeff started reciting a poem to me and I was so blessed by his story and his poetry, I asked him if I could share his story. We never know when we meet a person, just at first glance, who they are, where they come from, or what they went through to get there. I am always amazed at how God uses people. No matter what you have been through or how bad things have been in your life, the almighty hand of God is more powerful than any adversity. It continues to remind me to NOT talk about how big my problems are, but to tell my problems how big my God is.
Jeff is not only a farrier, but a “horse behaviorist” and a clinician. He can talk any horse out of bad behavior and it’s amazing how smart horses get when Jeff works with their owners. Jeff can be found having lunch at the café in Marietta, Oklahoma most days and everyone knows Jeff and his work with horses. He gives God all the credit for his blessed life today.
Written by,
Bennie Jean Kuehnle
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