num_pages: 203
description: Take the Reins collects a father's lessons to his son about "life, commitment, and spirituality." Author John L. Moore (best known for his fiction, including The Breaking of Ezra Riley) is a rancher who lives north of Miles City, Montana. Take the Reins consists of short meditations on experiences that he and his son Jess have shared on the ranch, where bad luck, drought, disease, and other dangers constantly shatter any illusions that this world is a safe place to live. The book's basic lesson is that only God offers security. Admirably, Moore manages to convey this lesson without denigrating the physical world. The book has more than its share of excitement and suspense--runaway horses, hunting trips, long hours lost on the plains--and it is equally adept at poignant understatement. (Describing his care for a sick calf, Moore writes that "We carried the calf to the bathroom and lowered the cold body into the warm water. The smell of afterbirth came alive in the heat.") Take the Reins is a fine book whose lessons regarding paternal love have a quiet, universal appeal.
language: English
title: Take the Reins: A Father Teaches His Son About Life, Commitment and Spirituality
titlecomplete: Take the Reins: A Father Teaches His Son About Life, Commitment and Spirituality
ratings_count: 21
publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc