Out Our Way: The horse of many colors

   There are different types of gifts, but the same Spirit, different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 1 Corinthians 12:4-5

Out our way, we are fortunate to have a great amount of horseflesh to admire. From rangy mustangs to thoroughbred, each type of horse has its own special characteristics.

Years ago I learned to jump on a huge Percheron, a breed developed for knights in the Middle Ages and later used for hauling and plowing. Beautiful, big and strong, they weren’t the fastest or the smoothest — but I suspect a knight in heavy army or a farmer behind a plow found them just right.

Then there was a Morgan mare when I first started riding outside the arena. She was a beautiful gal with a heart that wouldn’t quit.  Her owner once entered a 50-mile race with her and at the check point half way through the vets wondered if old Cecil had been cheating some how because she wasn’t even breathing hard.  

Then I rode a marvelous Tennessee Walker who was so smooth and easy that one day that I could sip tea on his back while clearing a jump or going full tilt cross country.

And then there is Goliath — my pal — who is 100 percent quarter horse.   When you get him into a trot, canter or gallop, you better have your seat belt high and tight because besides being so clumsy that he trips over his own feet at the gallop, his gait is like riding a jack hammer until he gets his leads sorted out … and even then my fillings are coming loose.    Even so, he gets cows, and all I need to do is sort of point him in the right direction and he automatically starts herding them without much need to consult me.

Yup, there are a lot of different horses out our way — each with its own peculiarities, personalities, traits and talents, and all of them beautiful in their own way.  They come in different sizes, breeds and colors — but they are all horses.  I suppose that’s why so many of us love them all.

In the Book of Acts I was noticing that as Peter and Paul and other great leaders of the early Church went around, there didn’t seem to be a lot of rivalry between them.   I noticed that, after Phillip had evangelized much of Samaria and seen great growth, he had no trouble at all with Peter and John coming up from Jerusalem to get involved. (Acts 8:14-25) The jealousy and competition we so often see between various pastors, denominations and congregations just wasn’t there.

I suppose what really got me thinking about it was when I noticed that in most of the healings, Peter and the others said, “In the Name of Christ” as opposed to their own.  We all know this on one level but, on another, flattery and ego and sometimes even greed make us forget and want the credit for ourselves.

When there is an out pouring of the Spirit in that congregation down the road, when suddenly the fire begins to spread and people who never seemed interested in the Church before are suddenly getting flocking to hear that new preacher, when some pastor gets his or her picture in the paper — what is our reaction?

I know my first reaction is jealousy, envy and maybe even a desire to see them flop.  Hmm. That doesn’t seem to be the way Peter and Paul and the other Apostles looked at things!  Instead they saw it as a victory for Christ, and not a feather in the cap for whomever God used as His instrument.  Maybe I am not quite so grown up and mature in the faith as I thought.

Sometimes God needs a mustang, sometimes a Percheron, sometimes a race horse, and sometimes a good old plug like Goliath.  I notice “old Doc” doesn’t seem at all concerned about such things, he’s just grateful to be a horse.   That “jug-head” can certainly teach me a thing or two about plain horse sense theology.  

John Bruington and Goliath can be reached at [email protected]. Goliath’s columns, Bruin Town Tales, and even some of Bruington’s sermons are available on http://www.havrepres.org.