Sunday's Devotion

Sunday, February 8, 2004

Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
(1 Peter 1.21 NRSV)

Max Anders, in his book titled GOD gives one of the most powerful analogies of Christian progression that I have ever read. He says that in the 1940 version of The Mark of Zorro, there is a remarkable "chase" scene in which Zorro is fleeing in the dead of night from a band of Spanish army officers. He is dressed in black, and his horse, of course, is jet black. Racing at breakneck speed through woods, over creeks, along narrow paths, Zorro is finally cornered on a bridge suspended about twenty feet over a river. In one of the most remarkable stunts Anders had ever seen in a movie, Zorro turns his horse toward the railing on the bridge, which is about four and a half feet high, and spurs him. The horse jumps over the railing, into the river below, with the rider still on him. It swims downstream in a hail of bullets from the bridge, and once again, Zorro makes a cunning escape.
Max Anders questioned how in the world did that stunt rider get that horse to jump over that railing into the black abyss below? He says that is one of the most unnatural things a horse would ever do. A horse would be almost as likely to dance ballet or swim a back stroke as to jump into a black abyss.
He learned the answer from those who train horses. The secret is that the rider must never ask the horse to do anything that hurts it. The rider first gets the horse to do little stunts that seem dangerous, but the horse does not get hurt. So the trainer graduates to major stunts. After years or training, the horse learns to trust the rider, because nothing traumatizing has ever happened to him in the past. As a result, he will do almost anything the rider asks of him in the future. Obviously, this rider had spent a lot of time working with that horse, and a high degree of trust had developed. The horse never hesitated. Over the rail and into the river. Max Anders says that if you know anything about horses, it will almost bring tears to your eyes to imagine the amount of work and trust that had to have gone into such a bold move.
This is the story of our faith walk with Christ. We must be close to Christ and trust him with our whole being.
Loving God, may I continue to build by trust and faith in you. Amen.
Ron Newhouse

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