Testing God 36 - Mysterious Ways

It is jokingly said of life on the racetrack that it is not a matter of IF you get hurt, but WHEN. It’s no joke—It’so Facto, as my father-in-law used to say.

It seems quite a sensible idea to me to ask God to take control over my life since I do a pretty good job of mucking things up, left to my own devices. I find the old adage that ‘God works in mysterious ways’ is proven true over and over again.

I remember listening to Mark and Tammy’s testimony at a lunch gathering one day shortly after we met.

Tammy was a Christian but never could get her husband, Mike, to make that commitment. So you could have knocked her over with a feather when her jockey husband came home late one afternoon, a day or two before his fatal accident. When questioned about his whereabouts, he told Tammy that he had an inexplicable urge to stop by a church, where after sitting quietly for awhile wondering why in the heck he had come there, he felt God’s presence for the very first time.

Tammy said that that gave her an enormous amount of comfort through the following weeks, and ultimately the courage to allow life support to be disconnected when the doctors told her that there was no hope.

For Mark Johnston, I believe his epiphany came a bit later when, because of the accident, his life was once again spinning out of control.

As Mark and Tammy and Jerry and I traveled far and wide to various racetracks that summer with Joe’s horses, we had ample time to get to know each other. We laughed and carried on and recounted funny stories from the track. But every once in awhile, the topics we discussed were of a serious nature.

Like all the life lessons we learned the hard way.

Daily Notes: And speaking of delayed harvests, the last potential reason for this listed in Rich Toward God by Dr. Hood is:

Depth—God may be preparing you for something no one can anticipate, and your willingness to stay tough and true could be part of the training process. When it comes to finances, Luke 16:11 records that Jesus once asked a very interesting question: “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” I wonder what Jesus was talking about when he talked about “true riches.” For the rich fool it would certainly have meant another opportunity to give. But, even beyond giving, what are the true riches? Surely they include answered prayer, the salvation of loved ones, receiving the peace that passes understanding, and so on. Please make your own list of riches that money can’t buy, and ask the Lord to help you focus on these priceless blessings.

In today's photo, Jerry and former jockey Jamie Bruin discuss something in the Form, while UB, expresses his disinterest in the conversation.