On Saturday I watched the horseracing hype show before the running of the Preakness. I'm not sure why ... probably because the other offerings were the WNBA and the NHL. Well, after you throw away 40 minutes of your life watching the pre-race show, why not spend another two minutes actually watching the race? So I did. And like everyone else, I saw the Kentucky Derby winner and hands-on favorite Barbaro pull up lame just a couple hundred yards from the gate.
It actually saddened me. Remember Bruce Springsteen singing "Born to Run?" That's exactly what Barbaro was born to do -- run. He was bred, born and trained for the sole purpose of racing for the Triple Crown. Now, with a severely broken leg, doctors question whether he should even live. Barbaro will never fulfill what he was born to be.
Later Saturday we rented the third of the Lord of the Rings movies. The whole movie is one glorious scene after another. But the most poignent for me was the conversation near the end of the film between Aragorn and Elrond. Aragorn is the last descendent in the line of human kings who reigned over Middle Earth hundreds of years prior. Elrond is the leader of the Elves, a dying race willing to band together with man one last time to defeat wickedness. At the point of climactic despair, when evil is about to reign for eternity, Elrond throws down the ultimate gauntlet to Aragorn:
"Become who you were born to be."
And with that, Aragorn becomes King of Middle Earth, leads the good guys to victory, and lives happliy ever after.
Two brushes with destiny, two very different results.
Of course, this all got me to thinking -- am I becoming what I was born to be? Am I fulfilling the destiny for which I was born? Am I even aware of what it is? Husband, dad, son, insurance agent ... what more lies ahead waiting for me?
"Their (enemies of Christ) destiny is destruction, their god
is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly
things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from
there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring
everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will
be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for,
my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear
friends!"
And such is the encouragement from Paul to the Christians in Phillipi, and to me. Stand firm, for your destiny will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the transformation of our bodies. Remember that for which you have been born ... citizenship in heaven.
Indeed, their will be a Return of the King. It is that which we await.
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