Breaking Well

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved and watched the Kentucky Derby. This year, I was rooting for California Chrome, the horse that cost a paltry $10,000 when most Derby horses cost millions. The trainer was 77 years old, and had been sure the colt everyone laughed at would become a great horse, based on his bloodlines. I assume a lot of people laughed at the old trainer as well. California Chrome could win -- in fact he was the favorite, but only if he broke well out of the gate. He hates to run with mud in his face thus needs to lead the pack. Unfortunately, he has a problem with breaking well out of the gate.

I rooted for him the whole way. He broke well, he stayed near the front, and when he came down the homestretch, he stretched the distance easily between him and the rest of the pack. He crossed the finish line well in the lead, and the elderly trainer collapsed in the arms of his wife (I assume that is who she was...). Both appeared to be crying. I love fairy tale endings. sniff sniff.

So many good lessons. Ignore the nay-sayers. Break well from the get-go. Don't fall behind. Run in the manner that your gifts are best called into play. Don't let mud slinging slow you down. When the end is in sight, don't lose heart -- sprint to the finish. And as the garland is placed around your neck, don't forget to smell the roses.

Can I hear a neigh....er... an Amen?
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1 Corinthians 9:24-27 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Philippians 3:13-14 

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.