Cowboy devotional book signing at Inklings and More April 6

Teaching, the Lord, horses, ranching — Kris Wilson was a man who had many passions. In the midst of a terminal cancer diagnosis, his love for those things came together in the form of a devotional book for cowboys called “I’ll Drop You Off.”
    Kris’ wife, Cara (Armstrong) Wilson, made a promise to him before he died that she would keep his legacy going. He wanted to keep telling people about Jesus for as long as he could, and to that end, Cara will be promoting his book at Inklings and More at 221 N. Interocean Ave., Thursday, April 6, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., with a book-signing event.
    In the introduction to his book, Kris revealed his motivation for writing. “Working cowboys are an independent, self-reliant bunch. And while a great many are devoted Christians, there are many more to reach.”
    Cara noted the devotional really speaks to a man’s heart and to a cowboy’s heart, but it can really speak to anyone. “You may not be the cowboy yourself,” the introduction continues. “You may be his wife, mother, father, brother, sister or friend. That’s okay, give [God] the opportunity to move in your life.” He added that one of his best full-time cowboys was in fact a cowgirl, and this book is for them too.
    
    Cara tells their story
    Cara grew up in northeastern Colorado, attending school in Holyoke before moving to Wray, where she graduated from high school. However, even as a child, she said, she had a desire to move to Texas, asking her parents as a young girl if they could please just move there.
    Things are much clearer in hindsight, she reflected, and God must have put a longing for Texas in her heart years ago because that is where she would eventually meet Kris.
    The two met at Texas Tech, where Cara studied agricultural communications and Kris studied animal nutrition. They were married there and began their life together, both accepting jobs at their alma mater. Kris was an assistant professor of animal science, and Cara worked in the admissions department on the marketing team.
    Their life in Lubbock was wonderful, Cara noted, with good jobs and a college-aged Bible study they led, but after three years of marriage spent there, the couple began to long for something different. So they prayed. For eight months they prayed for direction, before they moved to Matador Ranch for Kris to work as a cowboy.
    “Everyone at the university thought we were crazy,” Cara said. It didn’t make sense financially, but they could tell Matador was where God was calling them to go. “We thought we were crazy, too,” she laughed. But it ended up being the best year of their marriage.
    After Kris had spent much of his time traveling for his job at Tech, they loved getting to spend more time together at the ranch. While there, they found out Cara was expecting their first child. One day out feeding cows, Cara heard God say “I have big plans for Kris Wilson.” She didn’t know what it meant at the time, but after one short year at Matador, the Wilson family found themselves facing another move.
    It happened so quick, unlike the previous move, Cara said. They weren’t even looking for something new. Kris got a call from Bell Ranch in New Mexico two weeks before their son, Grady Spur, was born, and on their way home from the hospital they said yes to the job offer. Kris was going from cowboy to ranch manager.
    Again Cara sees things differently in hindsight. At the time, it seemed strange that God kept them at Matador for only a year, but now she realizes that it served as an important stepping stone for them to move to Bell Ranch. That year gave Kris a chance to learn to work with a crew and earn the respect of cowboys, preparing him to step up as a ranch manager.
    Bell Ranch was huge. Cara remembers driving and driving to get there, and once they arrived, driving another 12 miles to finally get to the headquarters. It was very remote, she emphasized.
    Things were going well at the ranch, and Cara was pregnant with their second child. Kris was at a stock show in Fort Worth in January 2013 when a steer stepped on his back. Unbeknownst to him, he had an orange-sized tumor above his left kidney at the time.
    The steer aggravated the tumor, causing it to bleed and alerting them to its existence. Cara said they were actually thankful for the accident because it allowed them to find Kris’ cancer — a type that doesn’t present symptoms early — sooner than they would have otherwise.
    Over a three-week period, the tumor grew to the size of a football and then it was removed. Within that time frame, their daughter, Josey Rae, was born. God used her birth to remind them that there was still beauty in the middle of it all, Cara remembered.
    Life went on and Kris kept branding and weening calves as usual. At his one-year checkup they found more tumors, which eventually led the couple to Germany to seek alternative treatment. The treatment didn’t work, but looking back, Cara knows that their going to Germany wasn’t a waste. While there, Kris had a dream in which Jesus came to him on a horse, saying, “I am not finished with you. I have plans for your work.”
    That’s when Kris knew he needed to write his devotional for cowboys. He started with a blog on Facebook called Western Faithbook, where he would post a devotional each week and people would share their prayers with the group. In January 2016, Kris began writing his book.
    Cara recalled one day when he stayed up all night and wrote six days’ worth of content. “I had a front-row seat to watch it all happen,” Cara remarked with a smile. “I’m so proud that God let me be his wife.” In July 2016 his book was published.
    Even through all the cancer treatments and trials, Kris wanted God to use him to point people toward the cross. It was an intense three and a half years that he fought, Cara said, but God never left them. Sept. 7, 2016, Kris met Jesus, Cara said. “He went home. He was made whole — made new.”
    In October, Cara and their children, now 6 and 4 years old, moved to Ovid, living close to her family again. Her love for her husband and her passion for his book are evident. Cara lights up when she gets the chance to talk about it and the idea that God will use the devotional to reach people for years to come.