I live with a hippophile. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is someone who loves horses. Cowhide, ropes, horseshoes, and suede adorn her bedroom and her closet displays an assortment of cowboy boots, western shirts, bib overalls, bandanas, and hats. Since she was knee high to a grasshopper she has tossed the Barbies and doll babies aside to accommodate her cows and horses, fences and barns. We do not live on a ranch or even an acreage, but that doesn’t matter. She is a cowgirl at heart. Since she does not have the luxury of tending to a horse on a regular basis, her cowgirl dreams are appeased through the television. Apparently there are other city slicker horse lovers too because there is an abundance of horse films on the market. From “The Black Stallion” to “My Little Pony”, we have watched a lot of horse movies over the years, but one of my favorites is “Secretariat”.
Secretariat is the name of an incredible horse owned by Penny Chenery who ultimately crosses the finish line into history as the Triple Crown winner. We have watched this movie countless times, but as we followed the story yet again on a Sunday afternoon rerun, a familiar clip reined me in. Secretariat had lost one of his early races and Penny was interviewing a new jockey named Ronnie Turcotte. Ronnie was an experienced rider, one of the best, but also had the reputation of running his horses too hard. Rumor at the track was that he had recently run a horse so hard his heart burst. As Penny questioned Turcotte in a heated conversation, Ronnie didn’t back down. “I risk my life every time I climb on a horse. I’m not afraid, neither are they. I want to win just like they do. My last horse wanted to win so much his heart burst. It’s who they are. It’s who I am.”
It was this scene that played on a continuous loop in my mind. … his heart burst… it’s who they are… it’s who I am… I began to wonder what that would look like in my own life to go after something with such gusto my heart would burst. There’s a lot of things I could say I have done my best at, but have I ever wanted to win so badly that I would go to that extreme. Have I ever left it all on the track?
But that’s exactly the kind of commitment Jesus wants from us. We are instructed to offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1), to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), to submit to God (James 4:7), and to do everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). That doesn’t sound like a half-hearted, Sunday only, good enough, kind of commitment to me.
My desire is to get to the finish line of this life and hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. But do we really think those are the words that will come from our Father’s mouth if in reality we are running the safest race possible, being content with finishing with the pack, instead of laying it all on the line? I have been reading a book called “The Jesus Centered Life”. If you don’t mind a lot of highlights and underlines you are welcome to borrow it. The author has challenged my status quo living with paying ridiculous attention to Jesus and being ruined by Him and for Him, to not being satisfied with Jesus as a ‘nice guy’ but being captivated by the Lion of Judah.
So how about you? While a hippophile is someone who has an extravagant love for horses, early followers of Jesus were known as Christians, meaning to be a “little Christ” or someone who had a passionate heart for following Christ. Are you ready to be done with safe living and be the kind of disciple who gives it all you got? May it be said of us when the hearse pulls up to the door, that we ran so hard our heart burst for Jesus!
Erin Jacobsma