Free

The first time I remember seeing a horse, I was perhaps 5 years old. I remember saying to my dad, "What's THAT, Daddy?" He told me it was a horse. "Can I have one?" I pleaded with him right away.

It was love at first sight. Over the years, I've tried to have as much to do with horses as I could - limited when I was young due to financial constraints and now limited because of the allergies of the people I love. Yet I still admire the creatures from afar, and whenever I get the chance, I go to a barn and just drink in the smell of leather and horse dust - far more attractive to me than the artificial smells of perfume.

I've never been able to imagine anything that pictures freedom quite like the image of a horse galloping across a field. Rarely have I felt more free physically than when I have been astride a well-trained horse, out in the open, and a spontaneous race broke out between my mount and that of another rider. It was exhilarating. I felt like I was flying, trusting in the strength of the animal beneath me to take me where I wanted to go.

For some people, like my husband, they get this feeling in other ways. With him, it's flying in a light plane. For others, it's playing a favorite sport. Or riding a roller-coaster. Or hang-gliding, or bungee-jumping.

When freedom is removed - when it's curtailed somehow, or when it's limited - that removes the appeal. Like those canned pony rides that were so popular at zoos a while back. I hated those. Yes, you got on the pony. Yes, it moved under you. But it was kept to a walk, there was no mental connection between rider and animal, and you went where someone else wanted you to go. To me that wasn't riding, that was being led around on an animal. All the fun was sucked out of it.

I have to admit, that's what church feels like sometimes. Programmed, regimented, and revolving around someone else's idea of what it's like to live the Christian life. I'm not knocking going to church. There is a vital role that "community" plays in spiritual growth. But if that is all there is - if one doesn't "get on the horse" oneself, experience God for oneself, then where's the freedom in that?

His invitation is to mount up. Live life. Experience Him.
Be free.