A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

It’s funny how little things stick with you over time. It’s those little things that you see, that seem insignificant at the moment, that tend to have a long lasting impact on you. Of course it could just be how my mind works. I seem to always be looking for little signs here and there. It might be because I have watched one too many episodes of Lost, but I personally believe that’s how God hardwired me. I tend to look at nature, whether it’s a sunrise, rainstorm, or bull moose emerging from an alpine stream, and try to hear and see God in that. I personally believe that God speaks through His creation. Luke 19:40 says this “’I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’” God uses His creation to speak to us. Whether it’s a talking donkey, and yes…it happened…see Numbers 22:21-41, or rocks crying out, God is all around, working in His creation, talking to us. And that leads me to the point of my rambling. No, a donkey didn’t talk to me, close, but not quite.

About a year ago I was driving up to Dallas from Katy/Houston. I love taking what I lovingly refer to as the “back roads” to get to Dallas. I can’t stand Interstate 45 so I head through the back roads till I get to Highway 6 and take that to I-35 then onward to Dallas, but I digress. My little story comes from an observation I made while on the “back roads.” I was driving on this little two lane farm-to-market road when I saw something profound. On one side of the road there were about ten or so horses moving around in a moderately sized, fenced in area. It wasn’t huge and the horses didn’t seem to have a great deal of room to maneuver about in. On the other side of the road was a lone horse in a fenced in area that seemed to have no end. The lone horse had all the room in the world to gallop, explore, and just enjoy the freedom that the horses across the road did not have. But you see, it wasn’t the size of the horse pen that I noticed, it was what the lone horse was doing that caught my eye. He sat there at the fence along the road, staring at the ten horses across the way. Now let me paint for you the picture of this horse. He stood about as close to the fence as possible so that he might be able to be as close to the other horses as possible. His head was outstretched as far as it could be in an “almost there…almost there” kind of pose. As I continued by I wondered why this horse didn’t just simply turn around and enjoy his freedom. He had all the room in the world to run around. It didn’t click with me until I realized how much I am, how we all are, like this horse.

The lone horse had freedom; he had something the other horses across the way didn’t have. He had room to run around, take a drink from a cool stream, and just be out in the open, but that’s not what he wanted. What he wanted was to be with the other horses. You see the world and the Kingdom of God are similar to this little horse scenario. On one side is the world and all that it has to offer. On the other side are the things of God. How many times have we as Christians been just like that lone horse? We have freedom in Christ and yet we sit at the edge longing to participate in the world. Why? If we would just turn around and look, we would see that the Lord has given us freedom from the world. We are free from the penalty of sin. Let me repeat that, we are free from the penalty of sin. What is the penalty of sin you ask? Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We are free in Christ and what a freedom we have. The Lord paid the ransom for our souls on Calvary. That price has been paid, turn around and enjoy the freedom you have in Christ.

Now ideally not only should our goal as Christians be to enjoy the freedom that Christ gave us, but we should also look to bring as many of the other “horses” over into our “pasture.” Heaven is exclusive in the sense that there is only one way to God and that’s through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” While Heaven is exclusive in that sense, the opportunity to get there is for all. And that’s an important thing to remember. We shouldn’t be longing to be of the world. We are set apart and our minds should be on higher things. In addition to that we should also be looking for ways to bring others to the Lord.

So we need to not be like this lone horse, longing to be in the world while the freedom in Christ is right behind us. Let us all revel in the freedom that has been freely given to us and invite others to share in the joy of a life lived in Christ. May your life be well lived and may it be lived to serve Him. Praise the Lord for nature, for I know He still speaks to us through His creation.