Riches of His Glory

Leading or Following

2011-07-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my sister and I took my mom to Charles Town so she could play the slot machines. It was the first time I had ever experienced such a place and I have to admit it was fun and interesting.

One thing that keeps coming to mind is what I learned in the brief time I watched the horse races. The picture you see above was taken from our hotel window. Pretty amazing view, huh?

Keep in mind, I know NOTHING about horse racing or training so this observation is strictly from what I see into it. Before the horses get ready for the big race, they walk around the track. You will then see them pick up the pace a bit, some are trotting, some are running a bit faster but they are all over the place. You may even see one or two going in the wrong direction!

But then, they paired up like this two by two and led each other around as you see pictured above. One jockey would hold the other horses harness and pull him towards his horse as if it would almost lay his head down on his shoulder. They would then pick up the pace again in this same position. I assume it’s to get the horses used to running “neck and neck” during the race but I don’t know.

To me watching it is as if you can tell which one is going to be the lead horse and which one is going to be the follower. Where the head goes, the body follows. Isn’t that true in all walks of life?

People bet on these horses and from what I can tell it’s based on several aspects, age, wins, size, etc. IF I were to bet (which I didn’t) I would watch their behavior during this warm up. It did not matter the size of the horse, the size of the rider. It was all about submission and will. I laughed at one horse because he broke away from them all, and took off in the wrong direction! Turns out, he was the one who almost won the race!

This whole picture leaves me thinking about life as a race. We all start off at the same point. We will either be leaders or followers. We must remember as a Leader, where we go, there is a body of people following us. I saw teamwork in watching these horses. As Proverbs 27:17 states “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” It was as if the two horses battled for position but in a friendly way among themselves as they trotted along. They were assured they were “not alone.”

Then you have the lone ranger horse who decides he is going to buck the whole group and run away all by himself without a jockey! They caught him of course but you can’t help but to wonder “what is he thinking?” We can apply people lives to that horse too. Some people just buck the life system no matter how the track is laid out for them. They end up in a locked stall too. It’s a shame because that horse could have had a lot of potential. He could have been the one who actually won the race! He never learned to trust, to submit, to lead or to follow.

Just wanted to leave you with some thoughts to consider after taking in the scene from this race. A leader gains trust so others feels safe. Do you lead that way? A leader trains and encourages the team. A leader knows where he is going and stays on track. Which one are you?