Jake the rancher went one day to fix a distant fence.
The wind was cold and gusty and the clouds rolled gray and dense
As he pounded the last staples in and gathered tools to go,
The temperature had fallen and the snow began to blow.
When he finally reached his pickup, he felt a heavy heart.
From the sound of that ignition, he knew it wouldn’t start.
So Jake did what most of us would do if we’d have been there
He humbly bowed his balding head and sent aloft a prayer.
As he turned the key for the last time, he softly cursed his luck.
They found him three days later, frozen stiff in that old truck.
Now Jake had been around in life and done his share of roamin’
But when he saw Heaven, he was shocked — it look just like Wyomin’.
Oh, there were some differences of course, but just some minor things,
One place had simply disappeared — the town they called Rock Springs.
The BLM had been shut down; there were no grazin’ fees
And the wind in Rawlins and Cheyenne was now a gentle breeze.
The Park and Forest Service folks — they didn’t fare so well,
They’d all been sent to fight some fire in a wilderness called Hell.
Though Heaven was a real nice place, Jake had a wondering mind
So he saddled up and lit a shuck, not know’n what he’d find.
Then one day up in Cody, on a cold fall afternoon,
He saw St. Peter coming, and he knew he’d be there soon.
Of all the saints in Heaven, his favorite was St. Peter,
A question he was going to ask him, and not teter
So they set and talked a minute or two, or maybe it was three
Nobody was keepin’ score — in Heaven time is free.
“I’ve always heard,” Jake said to Pete, “that God will answer prayers.
“But the one time that I asked for help, He just plain wasn’t there.
“Does God answer prayers of some, and ignore the prayers of others?
Does he play favorites, like I did with my brothers?
Or was he not paying attention to me
In my desperate time of need?”
St. Peter smiled, and slowly opened some chew
And responded, “Yes, God heard you.
But while you were out in your fields roaming
God said it was your time to come home, and answered your other prayers, that heaven be just like Wyoming”
The cowboy smiled. It all made sense.
Why he was drawn to go mend his fence.
God was thoughtful, as thoughtful as could be
He made Heaven Wyoming, just for me……
