Triple Crown Winner

Horse racing is an interesting sport. The central athlete in the competition is a huge thoroughbred. Like it or not this animal generally comes with plans of his own. There is the jockey of course. He is perched precariously atop his mount, urging him on. But really it’s the horse that does all the work and grabs all the glory.

Horses have been raced in organized races for over a hundred years in this country. Each Spring the country sets its collective breath as talk begins anew of the “triple crown” and whether this year will a horse emerge that can actually win it. The Triple Crown is won by winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in the same year.

Winning the Triple Crown is not an easy feat. It’s not supposed to be. It’s not supposed to be won every year. The last time it was won was in 1978 by Affirmed. But perhaps the most memorable winner in recent times was in 1973 by an unknown, unproven horse named Red.

Red was a big, strong horse with what his owner thought was potential. But before his owner could ever race him, she had to prepare him for the race first. The potential she saw running in her meadows back at the farm was thrilling but all that power and fury and might had to be harnessed, trained and taught. Red had to be broken and taught how to run before he could be allowed to run.

Breaking a horse, especially a strong, fast thoroughbred race horse is no easy task. You don’t just throw a saddle on the horse, jump on and hold on until the horse tires and you win. The horse must be approached with caution. It must be handled with care. The bridle must be introduced. Then the pad, next the saddle and long after those are accepted regularly then a rider is introduced. And even then a rider may find he is an unwanted intruder and summarily dismounted.

Caution is used when breaking a thoroughbred because you don’t want to break his winning spirit when breaking his wild nature. Care is used to leave part of the wild streak in tact. It is that wild heart that makes him so valuable and fast and fuels his competitive nature. It is what makes him who he is and what makes him so valuable as a race horse so care is made to break only as much of him as necessary. The trainer needs his horse to submit to the commands of the rider but still have the wild heart he was born with.

When in the hands of the proper trainer a wild and raw thoroughbred can be turned into a Triple Crown winner. Red was. No one thought that horse had the right stuff to be a winner much less win it all. No one except his owner, trainer and jockey. They saw in him his true potential and worked to break him and train him just the right way to set his wild heart free. And boy, when they set him free – did he ever run.

That’s what our Owner, Trainer and Jockey do with us. We’re already Triple Crown Winners. But we must be taught how to run. They break us and train us all in an effort to set our wild heart free. Of, course we don’t see it that way. We see all that – the being told no, the things that don’t go our way, the endless waiting, the shaping of our character, the letting go of things and people we love, the lack of control, the missed joy, etc. – as pointless. But its not.

We have a heart but like the thoroughbred’s it’s a wild heart and we need to be taught how to reign it in and control its power and potential. We have plans and goals. We want to run straight for that finish line. But our wild heart must have some control or our running will be chaotic and pointless.

If Red was allowed to race just as he was straight from the meadow he would have never have won even one race. He had to be taught how to run and how to win. When his trainer and jockey taught him how he could truly harness and tap into his potential then Red could run as far and as fast as he’d ever dreamed of.

When Red was ready to race his name was changed. Secretariat could run like the wind. And when he did – he out ran them all. And when he won the third and final race, the Belmont, and thus the Triple Crown, he won by a margin that no horse has ever come close matching. It was like he had wings. When he was finally allowed to run he was allowed to run as far and as fast as he’d ever wanted to go. He just had to be taught the right way first.

When we are ready we are made new in Christ. We look the same on the outside but God sees we are new on the inside. And he sets us free to run. And He wants us to run as far and as fast as we desire. God gives us wings – wings like eagles. But He doesn’t give us those wings without teaching us how to use them first.

No one said getting broken in is easy, but just watch a race horse run and tell me it’s not having the time of its life.
~