Secretariat and Charleston Chew candy bars

I have always loved horses. As a young boy I wanted a horse of my own in the worst way. I read every book on and about horses. I pleaded with my dad to let me have one, to no avail. For some strange reason, one year Charleston Chew candy bars, (do they still have those), ran a contest. "Mail in 5 candy bar wrappers with your name and address to enter a drawing to win a pony, or a horse if you prefer". (The year before, the prize had been a real monkey). Scout's honor! This was not what an already chubby 9 year old  boy who dreamt of having his own horse needed to hear. I faithfully consumed Charleston Chew candy bars at an alarming rate. After all, could Dad really say no when my horse I'd worked so hard to win was delivered to our doorstep?

I used to ride my bike to the county fairgrounds where they had stables for the trotters who raced at the county fairs each summer, hoping beyond all hope that one of the owners would see "something special in the lad" and ask me to help them train their horses. Yeah, I loved horses and I still do. 

Yesterday was the 143rd running of the Kentucky derby, the first race of the Triple Crown.  

I remember the first time I watched the movie Secretariat. We were at the Narrow Gauge Cinemas in our hometown of Farmington, Maine. It must have been sometime in the fall of 2010. Barbe and I were going through a very difficult situation at the church we had attended for years. Added to this, I was beginning to feel the stirrings of restlessness and dissatisfaction with the status quo of church life in general and my own life in particular. And of course with the Big 5 0 fast approaching I knew if I didn't make a life change soon, I'd probably spend the rest of my life pounding down the highways of America, which, as much as I loved it was taking its toll on me.

Secretariat

I'm not sure why, but I cried much of the way through the movie. Maybe it was the times we were going through, maybe it was just that everyone loves a movie about overcoming the odds, maybe it was just sentimental old me and my love for horses. All I know is that in the final scene when you can hear the thunder of Secretariat's hooves before he rounds the final turn and the narrator is reading from the Book of Job..."do you give the horse it's strength or clothe it's neck with a flowing mane...it paws fiercely, rejoicing in it's strength and charges into the fray...in frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds..." Thunder of hooves, chills up and down my spine, Secretariat rounds turn three, 13 lengths ahead of his closest rival. The race announcer's excited voice is almost drowned by the cheers and cries of the spectators. Secretariat continues to surge ahead, his speed actually increasing, to win the Belmont Stakes, the final race in the Triple Crown, finishing with a thirty length lead and establishing a new track record of 2:24 minutes, a record that still stands. All I know, is that something established itself deep inside me at that moment and I remember leaning over to a friend sitting in front of us and whispering in a voice choked with emotion, "That's the way I want to live my life". 

Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes by thirty lengths

That decision has motivated and moved me ever since. I don't want to live a life always holding back because of fear or worry. I want to run as hard as I can. Below, I'm including a video of Secretariat's three races in the 1973 Triple Crown. Watch it and you will see something incredible. With each consecutive race he actually runs better. That's the way I want to run. I want to finish my life stronger than when I started.

This isn't about racing against each other, or trying to get the most toys. This is about using the gifts, abilities and experience God has given us to run for Him. In our home fellowship group we have been studying through the Book of Hebrews. Chapter twelve begins like this. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." 

That's the race we are meant to run.

Question

Are you allowing fear and doubt to hold you back, entangling you in their grasp, keeping you from running your race? Don't. I encourage you, live life to the fullest. 

I want to add this thought specifically to Christians. All too often we Christians separate our lives into  the "spiritual" and the "mundane". That's a mistake. One thing I have learned here in Honduras is that ALL of Life is meant to be lived in it's entirety, each moment, each hour, each day.

  Life.  

This is the race we are to engage in.