Kentucky Derby Day: Horses, Horseracing and the Race of Life

I'm excited about the Kentucky Derby this afternoon. I love to watch the beautiful horses and I love to watch them race. There is just something so wonderful about horses. I do not follow the intricacies of horse racing. I don't even believe in betting on them. There are many things about the industry that I despise. I just love horses and love watching them race. That's all. I love when they are nearing the finish line, and I love when the winner crosses it. I love the excitement. I almost always cry. I have no idea why. It is something God placed in me from a young child. My grandfather was a great horseman around here. American Saddlebred horses, not Thoroughbreds. He used to take me to horse sales. His horse he rode in parades was called Red Feather. He was a beautiful chestnut horse with a white blaze, if I remember correctly. He seemed huge to me, a very tall horse. My grandfather taught horses to do tricks. He taught me how to train a horse to walk, trot, canter and jump. Nothing big, just little jumps. I used to ride a little bay Quarter Horse named Jim Dandy bareback across the plains in Silver Lake, Kansas. I am so glad I got to do that. No one can ever take that away from me. If I never own a horse, if I never ride again, I will always have that. Because of my dad's divorces, I did not inherit any of that land, but I will always have the memory of going to horse sales and riding horses on Sunday at the farm. I just have a thing for horses because of all that. I think there is something deeper going on, but I'm not sure what it is. However, I am not sure it doesn't have something to do with unfulfilled longings associated with the fracture of my family and the fact that my greatest desire was for my parents to get back together again and that never happened. Everything always takes me back to that. I am shamelessly returning to that nearly every day of my life. But about the horses, they are just so incredibly beautiful, for one thing, and so strong and so mysterious. I mean how does a 1,000 pound animal that can crush your foot by accident, and squash you flat against the wall of its stall in two seconds become willing to let you ride on its back and take you wherever you want to go with a gentle nudge with a strip of leather on its neck? You explain that to me. I don't believe you can. It is a miracle to me. There are many miracles to consider in this life, but horses are the most amazing animals on the planet in my estimation. I am sure it is because of my personal experience with them, which is still so small compared to real horse people. I just love them, that's all. I think they must have provided therapy for me when going through my parents' divorce, primarily the first one. That and piano lessons. There were many ways God provided healing for that family disruption, but horses and piano lessons, I think, were probably the main ones. Not sure how horses and piano lessons converge. They don't, I'm sure, but the piano lessons get an honorable mention right here anyway. They are for another day, because today (it's after midnight!) is the Kentucky Derby, and I get to watch it on TV. I don't know which one I want to win. That's another thing about horse racing. It seems like they are very unpredictable. I am kind of drawn to Sandman, I have no idea why, really, other than the fact that I've seen more videos of him than any of the others, and he is so beautiful and looks so stunning when he runs. I have no idea what his odds are. I read that 21 horses were registered or something like that. I hope they don't all end up in the race, because it makes me nervous to have that many horses on a track. Surely, they won't run 21 horses in one race. I hope not anyway. What I hate the most about horse racing is how many terrible things can happen to them, and I don't want to think about it or remember it or see endless posts on social media about the famous racehorses who have had to be put down for all the reasons that had to happen. I just can't stand to see those posts. Every time I watch a race, I'm just praying, "Please, God, don't let anyone get hurt today," and when no one gets hurt, I am just so thankful. I am sure there will be horses in heaven. Horses have been such great servants of mankind and are still doing that and are still dying in the service of mankind, and have down through the ages, I mean like thousands of them in warfare since the beginning of time. And the Bible speaks of Jesus returning on a white horse. "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fireceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:11-16). Maybe that is why the victory and triumph represented by a horse race is so thrilling and emotional for me and others. It's just amazing to me. I know I don't have to compete with anybody else in this life about anything because the main race is just the race of life that God has equipped us to run, and I know I can't even adequately describe what is taking place, but I am looking forward to the Kentucky Derby, which I will probably never attend in person, but can enjoy completely from afar through the miracle of television and, well, I feel myself beginning to meander into a bunny trail again. So, in conclusion, back to the race theme, only not with horses. "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Run your race, and enjoy your weekend, whatever you do. I'll be watching those races this afternoon. As usual, all this discussion barely hints at the themes we could be exploring, but I hope you enjoy something as much as I enjoy watching horses run and playing worship music on Sunday. Happy Saturday!