Flash Read online

  Stories that teach spiritual lessons, delight with humor, and make me lean in closer to God’s heart are my favorites! And this unlikely treasure of a book does just that. You will fall in love with Flash and the way Rachel Anne processes their story together.

  LYSA TERKEURST, New York Times bestselling author of The Best Yes and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

  When I first heard that Rachel Ridge had written a book about her family’s donkey, Flash, I had no idea what to expect. Nothing could have prepared me for such a delightful experience! I loved every page of Flash, and Rachel has such a gift for storytelling that you can absolutely picture each scene. This book made me laugh at Flash’s antics and cry as I identified with the lessons he has taught her family about the way God loves us and sees us. This book will make you fall in love with our Savior all over again and, more than likely, make you hope you can have your own pet donkey someday.

  MELANIE SHANKLE, New York Times bestselling author of Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room

  This book is a delight; it’s an honest, funny, and encouraging reminder of the creative, loving ways that God pursues us, teaches us, and changes us. Granted, I never expected that I’d have so much in common with a donkey, but Flash has taught me more than I could have imagined. You’re going to love this book, and when you finish reading it, you’re going to want to follow Flash’s lead and run with horses.

  SOPHIE HUDSON, author of Home Is Where My People Are and blogger at BooMama.net

  Flash is a marvelous, wonderful, funny, touching, and illuminating book. The author makes the good donkey Flash come alive on the pages. I agree with Rachel that God uses all sorts of things—from dogs to donkeys—to teach us more about himself, and all we have to do is pay attention.

  JIM KRAUS, bestselling author of The Dog That Talked to God

  Charming, poignant, funny, honest—Rachel Anne’s journey with Flash the donkey is pure reading pleasure as she shares her family’s misadventures with their four-legged friend. She opens her heart to us as well, helping us learn memorable lessons about doing life with more meaning and purpose. Flash is delightfully different. I loved it!

  LIZ CURTIS HIGGS, bestselling author of The Girl’s Still Got It

  What a charming, endearing, numinous book—and donkey! From the first chapter, you will immediately fall in love with Rachel Anne Ridge and her beloved Flash. By the last line, your eyes will be opened to seeing the ways God shows up and reveals Himself in the most unexpected—and delightful—ways.

  LISA WHELCHEL, actress and author of The Facts of Life and Friendship for Grown-Ups

  I always stand amazed at God’s infinite creativity. When Rachel and Tom Ridge faced a financial crisis, I would have suggested a financial advisor or career counselor. God chose to send a homeless donkey. Flash used his considerable donkey charm to teach the family lessons about service, faithfulness, purpose, passion, and second chances. You will laugh (often) at the antics of Flash. You will be touched by the authenticity of Rachel’s writing and the depth of the lessons God revealed through an abandoned donkey with big ears and a bigger heart.

  DAVE BURCHETT, author of Stay and When Bad Christians Happen to Good People

  A kick-in-the-pants read! Flash is memoir plus heartwarming and sometimes stressful animal story, mixed together with spiritual truth, all tempered with humor at just the right spots. Though I live in the suburbs, this made me want to disobey my neighborhood’s bylaws and get myself a donkey!

  MARY DEMUTH, author of The Wall around Your Heart

  Rachel Ridge has a beautiful ability to take the common things of life (like words) and craft them in such a way that they flow like prose and poetry. Submerging yourself in Flash is to become lost in a beautiful gallery of her finest art. With each turn of the page, the master storyteller shares a glimpse of humor, revelation, and hope. We’d all like to have a friend like Flash, faithful and true. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever needed a true-blue friend, a second chance, or a fresh perspective.

  JAN GREENWOOD, pastor of Gateway Women (Gateway Church) and author of Women at War

  I believe that since Creation, God has used animals to teach us about ourselves and about our Creator—if we’ll pay attention. Rachel pays attention, and so will her readers as they delight in a quirky and lovable donkey, Flash.

  DANDI DALEY MACKALL, author of Winnie the Horse Gentler, Backyard Horses, and the Starlight Animal Rescue series

  What in the world could a donkey teach me about life? Lots. Why? Because donkeys are simple creatures who live simple lives. Isn’t simplicity exactly what so many people are seeking to find amid their busy and hectic existences? In the pages of this book, you will find—in the life of Rachel Anne Ridge and in the life of her surprise pet donkey—that simplicity is beautiful.

  CHRYSTAL HURST, coauthor of Kingdom Woman

  Reader, BEWARE! By the end of this book you will be searching for a donkey for your own personal growth! From now on, every time I see one of these marvelous creatures out in the field, I will think of Flash, and I am sure a smile or giggle will follow, for this burro of burden is laden with humor and wisdom. Rachel has dignified a lowly creature to the point that you think it almost necessary to fence in your yard, buy some hay, and wait for the lessons to begin.

  TINA WESSON, Survivor: The Australian Outback (Season Two) winner

  I loved this whimsical, vulnerable, and simply profound book! Rachel tells how a broken, lost, and stubborn animal awakened her awareness of God’s voice in her life. Her story gives hope to anyone who has ever felt inadequate or unseen. She takes the simple and makes it shine to encourage the reader to look with a fresh perspective at the potential God puts in each of us.

  PAIGE C. GREENE, director of Adult Events, LifeWay Christian Resources

  Bravo to Rachel Ridge for this beautifully written book that so eloquently reminds us that our everyday happenings in life can be great lessons and blessings in disguise from our Maker—even in the form of a donkey! Two things you will want when you turn the last page are a donkey in your yard and Rachel as one of your besties!

  CINDY OWEN, Given Entertainment Group

  Visit Tyndale online at www.tyndale.com.

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  TYNDALE, Tyndale Momentum, and the Tyndale Momentum logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Tyndale Momentum is an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois.

  Flash: The Homeless Donkey Who Taught Me about Life, Faith, and Second Chances

  Copyright © 2015 by Rachel Anne Ridge. All rights reserved.

  Dust jacket photographs of donkey copyright © Thomas Ridge. All rights reserved.

  Cover photograph of daisy copyright © iava777/Dollarphotoclub. All rights reserved.

  Weathered wood textures copyright © DanaGarsonDesign. All rights reserved.

  Unless otherwise noted, all other artwork copyright © Rachel Anne Ridge. All rights reserved.

  Designed by Stephen Vosloo

  Edited by Bonne Steffen

  Published in association with the literary agency of William K. Jensen Literary Agency, 119 Bampton Court, Eugene, OR 97404.

  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version,® copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permissi
on of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Some names and details have been changed for the privacy of the individuals involved.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Ridge, Rachel Anne.

  Flash : the homeless donkey who taught me about life, faith, and second chances / Rachel Anne Ridge.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-1-4143-9783-2 (hc)

  1. Animals—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Human-animal relationships. 3. Donkeys—Miscellanea. I. Flash (Donkey) II. Title.

  BV4596.A54R53 2015

  242—dc23 2015000012

  ISBN 978-1-4964-0666-8 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4143-9788-7 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4964-0667-5 (Apple)

  Build: 2015-04-22 10:53:03

  For Tom,

  my best friend.

  And for

  Lauren, Meghan, and Grayson,

  my greatest gifts.

  Contents

  Foreword

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: An Unexpected Guest

  Chapter 2: What’s in a Name?

  Chapter 3: The Arctic Blast

  Chapter 4: Flash Runs with Horses

  Chapter 5: A Pasture Romance

  Chapter 6: Sure and Steady Trails

  Chapter 7: A Matter of Paternity

  Chapter 8: When the Rain Stopped

  Chapter 9: Barn Management

  Chapter 10: Change Comes Calling

  Chapter 11: Beau

  Chapter 12: “That’s Some Donkey”

  Chapter 13: An Unlikely Answer

  Lessons from Flash

  Q&A with Rachel Anne Ridge

  Acknowledgments

  Discussion Questions

  About the Author

  Foreword

  Good books are like good friends—difficult to find. Many can look promising at the beginning, only to disappoint somewhere down the line. Even when a book is recommended by a person you trust, you can never be sure you’ll experience the same connection, that the two of you will hit it off.

  Yet sometimes—often for reasons you can’t quite put a finger on—you choose to open it up, and open yourself up to it. And every now and then, you’re surprised and thankful at the warmth, the joy, the excitement and pleasure you discover inside.

  I’ve had the privilege of finding both—good books and good friends. And I’m giddy with joy to introduce you to a couple of them.

  Rachel came into my life over a decade ago with a friendship so pure and lasting and impactful that it has made me a better person. Not in theory but in real, tangible, practical ways. She’s taught me how to look for and discover the profound beauty tucked away in simplicity, the lovely details that someone else might miss because they’re too busy or too tired or too self-absorbed to care.

  These little nuances of life are Rachel’s treasures. I’ve watched her take the mundane and routine, the commonplace and plain, and squeeze drops of surprising goodness and vitality from them until everyone in her sphere is saturated with hope and love. She recreates what others would discard, turning it into something memorable and worth capturing. From her perspective, everything is budding with endless and immense possibility.

  So a decade ago when she drove up to an unkempt 1970s farmhouse, she saw only the blossoming potential of a cozy, tender place her family could call home. And she loved it and cared for it until it was.

  Years later, when her second daughter met the man of her dreams, Rachel transformed a weed-filled, neglected acre of ground into a lush carpet of greenery arched with luxurious foliage to welcome 250 guests and a walk down the aisle.

  And the reception. Oh, the reception! A timeworn, misshapen barn became a vintage paradise hung with chandeliers and dainty, twinkling white lights that seemed to dance to the beat of the music, like fluffs of white dandelions, blown loose from their stems and carried away on the evening breeze.

  This is Rachel’s way. Creating goodness where there seems to be none in sight.

  And so when Flash showed up—when he sauntered up her quarter-mile driveway, lost, dazed, frightened, and wondering where his next meal would come from—he’d just moseyed unaware into the wide-open arms of grace. Into the arms of Rachel Ridge. The one who sees beauty everywhere and in everything. Even in a dirty, hungry, unwanted, displaced donkey.

  He was home.

  Rachel and her husband, Tom, looked for Flash’s owner for a while. I mean, can you blame them? Who needs a donkey around to brush and feed and take care of? But then days folded into weeks, and those weeks disappeared into months, and suddenly years had gone by—and Flash was a permanent fixture. Yard art, as she likes to call him. He morphed from a project into a pet, then into a passion, and finally . . . into a present.

  A gift. First to her, and then from her to you. And to me.

  And the thing is, Flash is a gift. I never thought I’d be the kind of girl who could warm up to a donkey, but Flash stole my heart, as well as the hearts of my three sons, who decided he was their own personal pet from the very first day. His penchant for following close behind them with his soft muzzle nudging the backs of their shoulders, begging to be rubbed and caressed, is the highlight of their time with him. Flash keeps his head so close to theirs that they basically bump. They love it. They love him. When my boys show up at the gate and call his name, he comes trotting up enthusiastically. He’s been looking for them, waiting for them. And they’ve been waiting for him.

  Turns out we all were and just didn’t know it.

  Because with Flash, the life lessons weren’t long in coming. Rachel would tell me about how he was always able to escape through the one solitary hole in his mile-long fence. Or about the friends he’d made with critters in the next pasture and his sometimes obstinate refusal to move one inch, no matter how hard anyone tugged on his halter. Or his relationship with Beau, the family’s beautiful yellow Lab, and how they finally made nice after a long-standing feud.

  With each new adventure has come a new lesson, a new gem to enhance all of our lives. Images and insights that could easily go unnoticed by someone less observant and interested. But Rachel sees all the splendor hidden in these regular simplicities of life. She captures details and digs for beauty, paying attention and causing others to do the same.

  Which, by the way, is also the essence of good writing.

  And that’s exactly what you are holding in your hands. Rachel’s good, good writing.

  We’re so grateful to Tom and Rachel for turning an interruption into an opportunity, for giving a stray donkey a new home and a new name, for letting Flash into their lives. Because in doing so, they let him into ours.

  And now, Rachel’s letting him into yours.

  Every lesson you’ll find tucked into these pages will make you laugh, just as much as it will make you learn. And when you turn the final page, you’ll be surprised to discover you’ve found two things in one: a good book about a donkey named Flash, and a good friend in a simple country gal named Rachel.

  And you’ll never look at either of them quite the same again.

  Flash’s fan,

  Priscilla Shirer

  Prologue

  The idea had seemed so solid. Or at the very least, romantic. My husband, Tom, and I launched an art and mural business in the Dallas–Fort Worth area during the booming early 2000s. . . . What could possibly go wrong? Gated communities filled with European-styled mansions were springing up everywhere as the good economic times rolled in. An insatiable demand for the best of everything in amenities and decor kept us booked for months at a time creating interior masterpieces for discriminating clients.

  Not bad for a company that had started as my little hobby, painting up birdhouses and selling them in local shops. “Dream Bi
g” was my highly original, personal motto. And it had been my dream to make enough money to get my hair highlighted regularly without dipping into the family grocery budget. Good grief, those highlights are expensive. That was about as lofty as my early goals had been. I stayed home with three children, desperately needing this creative outlet, while Tom worked long hours in the electronics manufacturing field.

  When the phone began to ring with requests for bigger and grander painting projects, suddenly my hobby became more than I could handle. I needed help to pull it off, and my husband was just the person to bring in. Tom loved creating art with me on nights and weekends, lending his talents and muscle power, since by now scaffolds and lifting heavy supplies were involved. As a creative spirit stuck in a precisely controlled industry, he secretly longed for a way to leave the corporate treadmill and do something with his artistic talents. And when Tom’s job evaporated in an industry downturn, it appeared to be the perfect time to launch our dream together.

  It had to be divine providence, right?

  So it was, indeed, a good moment to start a venture we had no prior training in. We would wing it.

  We wanted to create beautiful things and paint stuff and make people happy. It was a simple dream. And it worked, mostly. Yes, the cyclical nature of the housing market challenged us more than we anticipated. We knew that “feast and famine” seasons were prerequisites for entrepreneurial triumph. But doing what we loved made each day an adventure, and we were thrilled to wake up and know we were going to make art that people enjoyed. We had our three kids and our dog and our dream, and we said, “It is enough.”

  For several years, our life was exactly that. Enough. We reveled in the experience.

  Now, cue the foreboding music and enter the burst of the housing bubble. The reveling turned into reeling.

  It’s an odd thing when success turns to failure. Life looks a whole lot different when your mind is constantly concerned with questions like how will you pay your bills, how will you afford orthodontia for the kids, and how will you make rice and beans remotely appealing until the next paycheck arrives. And, really, would living in a tent be so bad? You forget to notice the sky and the clouds and the way the sunlight sparkles on your daughter’s red hair, and you start noticing that every other car is a shiny new BMW and how crowded the fancy restaurants are. At first, you cannot believe your friends are taking carefree family vacations to Cancun, but there’s the proof—pictures of them on Facebook, enjoying their prosperity. You forget to walk the dog, although it would do you a world of good to get some exercise, and you eat fast food because it’s easy and because slicing up healthy vegetables seems so complicated. You eliminate frivolity and spontaneity, not because you don’t have time for them but because those are luxuries rich people enjoy, and you know that “getting away for a weekend” might mean you can’t afford supplies for your next project.