Instead He sends rainbows

My hometown near Binghamton is a small town and my folks don't quite have the stamina to kick up their heels like they used to. So our options for getting out and about are limited. That's how we ended up gambling and drinking at the race track.

Remember, I like to use exaggeration because it catches the reader's attention. So for all my horrified Christian friends,we didn't really gamble. We just picked our favorite horses in the program and pretended to lose our homes and livelihoods when our pseudo betting didn't pan out. Which was every time. We did have a small glass of wine to ease the discomfort of our bony butts getting pressure sores on the hard stadium seats.

Tioga Downs is a harness racing track and we were watching "pacers ". Pacers race in a modified trot where the legs on the same side of the body move forward together. It makes for an odd rocking motion of the horse. It is strange as the harness wont allow them to canter or gallop easily which is what a horse who wants to go fast would naturally want to break into. Pacing is like race walking. It is sort of like going your slowest gait but faster than all the others going their slowest gait. Pacing is a natural gait for some breeds and also for camels. There were no camels in the pacers we saw, which was too bad as watching race after race of pacing horses tends to get monotonous. Had they thrown in a pacing camel or better yet the less common pacing aardvark, I think even my dad might have stayed awake.

But I kept wondering how one goes about training a horse to go really fast in only second gear when he has 4 gears available. The horse is learning a very valuable spiritual lesson. How does one use unlimited power with restraint?

Amd of course I thought of God. He could force us to believe in Him, but He doesn't. He could punish us as we deserve for all our sins and transgressions, but instead He sent a substitute to die in our stead. He could destroy the world and start all over again since we have really been a disappointment from the get go but instead He sends rainbows.

There was one horse that won easily and we learned he was undefeated. This was his unprecedented 13th straight victory. This horse clearly understood that one can still win with restraint. That is God 's gamble as well. Psalm 78:38 NIV Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.

Psalm 76:10 NIV

Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise,
and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.

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