Seabiscuit: How the horse's trainer saw the heart underneath the brokenness

It takes someone with eyes to see your glory.

Seabiscuit was one of the most unlikely racehorse success stories in history.  Given his physical geometry, he shouldn't have been considered for championship racing any more than a child's boxy rockinghorse with blunted legs.  Rather than a sleek, aerodynamic grace, he had a body roughly-shaped like a brick, with short stumps for legs and squarish bucked knees.  Further, his legs wouldn't straighten completely, as if he was an elderly man shuffling forward with a bent-kneed hunch.  To bet on Seabiscuit would have been like betting on a St. Bernard in a greyhound race.

The horse walked with an awkward gait many mistook for lameness.  And when he ran, he comically moved in what some called an "eggbeater gait," jerking his left foreleg out and wide, like he was furiously shooing away a pestering hornet.

Upon examining Seabiscuit, veterinarians had pronounced him only "serviceably useful;" but in this horse, his would-be trainer, Tom Smith, "knew there was something lying dormant." [1] 


But Seabiscuit had heart. 

Seabiscuit had heart, despite all outward appearances.  Trainer Tom Smith, and owner Charles Howard, saw it.  Under Smith's unconventional training, the horse became the champion Smith always saw in him.

Here's what the horse's owner, Charles Howard, said when he first met the "Biscuit:"

I can't describe the feeling he gave me...but somehow I knew he had what it takes.  Tom and I realized that we had our worries and troubles ahead.  We had to rebuild him, both mentally and physically, but you don't have to rebuild the heart when it's already there, big as all outdoors."  [2]

You don't have to rebuild the heart when it's already there. 
That's your story.  When you entered into friendship with Jesus, he removed the heart that bucked in the chute and crashed against the rails, then replaced it with the racing prowess and potency of a Man O' War, Secretariat, or a Seabiscuit.

You don't rebuild something God has already built.  You don't need to beg for any more holiness, righteousness, or goodness.  Rather, you're invited to cooperate with God as he releases what he's already put within you.  You don't have to rebuild the heart when it's already there:  Trust the heart and heft of what he's already built. 

There may be renovation yet to be done to get your body and your mind tracking with your new nature; but for now,  you've got heart.  The rest will come.

[1] Excerpted from Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand, p. 44

[2] Excerpted from Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand, p. 45

Video: "THE PRONE TO WANDER MYTH"

I just finished producing this video.  The video exposes one of the most damaging myths in the Church today.

Developing a steady confidence. Lessons from a Navy Seal

Before his grueling Navy Seal training, Eric Greiten, author of The Heart and the Fist, got into the boxing ring.  He trained with a much more seasoned boxer and his coach, and this is his account of the first days of his training for the ring.

When we finished our day's work, I went into the locker room and took off my new gloves and my new hand wraps.  I held my hands splayed in front of me and looked at my knuckles.  The skin was torn from punching on the heavy bag.  Scar tissue would start to grow soon.  But for now, I savored blood on my hands, the small cut on my lip, the soreness in my jaw.  I had begun to earn the strength that comes from working through pain and it felt good.  I filled the sink with hot water and sank my hands.  When I pulled my dripping hands from the water, hints of fresh blood came to the surface of each knuckle.  ...I was becoming stronger and I liked it.

Deciding to enter the strict and discipled training of a professional boxer, Greitens says he needed to test himself:

" ...I needed to live through something hard and real to become better."    He noted that the other, more seasoned boxers had "a sure sense of how to walk in the world.  That was something I wanted - the steady confidence that comes from passing through tough tests." 

That "sure sense of how to walk in the world...that steady confidence" will often only come with bloody knuckles, cut lip,  and the wind knocked out of us.  But the strength will come, too.  When seasoned through suffering, a fighter can then handle opponents that once would have beat him silly.

We've been taught to mistrust our desires.

We've been taught to mistrust something God himself has given us:  desire.  All desire.

Here are some common assumptions Christians have often made about their desires and passions, and those assumptions have actually prevented Christians from discovering God's will:

1. Your desires will get you into trouble.
2. Your desires are inherently selfish.
3. Your desires are naturally in opposition to God's will.

We love to quote James 1:14

...but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

No where in this passage does Scripture say that all desire is bad.  In fact, in other places, God actually endorses our desires:

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed...May the Lord grant all your requests.  - Psalm 20:4

You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips.  - Psalm 21:2

In fact, Jesus' work in the blind beggar's life  started with, "What do you want me to do for you?"  - Matt. 20:32

Let's be clear:  There are desires of the flesh that can lead us into trouble; and there are whispers from the dark that can entice us.  But the desires of our new heart are good and noble.  As God redeemed our heart, so did he redeem the deep desires of our heart.

Try this:  Allow Jesus to ask you, "What do you want me to do for you?"  What if Jesus is trying to "entice" you with a brand new set of appetites and desires he's already placed within your heart?


Update on Friday, April 8, 2011 at 1:04PM by Jim Robbins

• Watch the video, THE LONG DESIRE

• Listen to the "LONG DESIRE PODCAST."  God has given us permission to desire.

What does it mean that you were born a noble?

You were born a noble.  Your heart is both "good" and "noble."  So what does it mean that you are 'noble?'

1.  You come from a powerful blood line.

2.  You will come into an inheritance.

3.  Your family name speaks for you.

4.  An authority has been bestowed upon you, pricely because of that blood line and family name.

5.  You are more than you think you are.

See video:  "A KINGDOM OF NOBLES"

THE NOBILITY OF LIONS - podcast -- guest Bob Regnerus

Before you listen to the podcast below, watch the video.  Note:  This video is not for the faint of heart.  But it will help if you frame it in terms of the Kingdom, and the idea that we are living in the Great Battle.

New podcast:  THE NOBILIITY OF LIONS

After you have viewed the video, listen to the podcast I did with guest Bob Regnerus [Co-host of Renegade Christian Podcast].  Bob and I share our personal stories of how God has conferred nobility upon us through word-pictures given directly to us.  Explore the lessons we're learning about the nature of our noble identity, and how we're learning to live in a Kingdom at war.

Not threatened by the cage

My good friend, John, received a word-picture for me, a vision, while I was using the bathroom. 

Several years ago, we were meeting at our favorite breakfast place, and I had shared with him how confused and stuck I was feeling.  I wanted to move forward in my calling, but didn't know how.   The confusion had whipped itself into a white-out snowstorm and the car I was driving didn't have windshield wipers.   I felt like I had just blindly veered off the shoulder into a ditch, unable to get leverage or traction:  the wheels where spinning and spitting, with no hope of forward motion.

My friend, John, is not one who casually says he's received a vision for someone.  He's cautious about making such declarations, while listening for anything valid in what he might be hearing. Here's what he said when I returned from the Men's Room:

Jim, how trapped do you feel?  [Which immediately caught me off-guard.  I wasn't even aware that I was feeling trapped.]  Then he revealed the word-picture God had given him for me:

I see Aslan.  He's caged.  But he's not threatened by the cage.  He is struggling with patience... pacing.

Jim -- he's still Aslan, regardless of the cage.

I started crying.  Through this tailor-made imagery, God was conferring upon me an identity both noble and fierce;  and revealing that the lion's identity wasn't limited or defined by the cage.   Further, any sense of condemnation was absent:  rather than scolding me for feeling limited and impatient, God indicated that he understood my frustration and impatience. 

What are your 'cages' and what is God saying to you despite them?
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Related video:  Kingdom of Nobles

Feel free to post a comment below.

Video - KINGDOM OF NOBLES

[This is a new video I just finished producing.] 

You were born into nobility. 

Those who are hungry for what you bring

What kind of people most need what you offer?

Jesus’ invitation was extended to those with an appetite for what he had:  hungry and thirsty people.  An individual is not going to come to his table if they are neither hunger nor thirsty.  It’s not their desire to do so ... and desire is the difference.  If they don’t want it, they won’t come.

Therefore, when you consider your own calling, the affect of your life, your unique offering to others, it’s appropriate to ask:  “What type of person will be most receptive to what I offer?  Who will be hungry for what I bring?” 

This is a general guideline for determining the direction in which our calling can go.  However, as with the kind of environment we most want to flourish in, there are occasions where God will place us in adverse environments, surrounded by people who don’t want what we offer.  We ultimately offer our hearts in service to God, and therefore may be asked to bring our selves to those grating and ungracious people.  For a time. 

Take heart – our environment need not define us:  a caged lion is still a lion.  He may wish to return to the open savanna, but only his surroundings have changed; not his noble strength, not his regal splendor. If our appointment to a job (mission) is only for a time, we can take comfort from the fact that the people there can never diminish our splendor or remove our unique glory – for they did not give it.

So what kind of person is most likely to need and want what you bring to the Story?

'HOW TO SHAME A CHRISTIAN' -- mini-movie

I created this mini-movie to expose some of the wounding, shame-based messages Christians hear. 

Photo of Jim's crest ring

A week or so ago, I showed you the design I came up for my crest ring.  A personal crest is a helpful visual reminder of our unique identity.  My design included very specific symbols that reveal how God has re-named me and called me.   [See previous post, "Creating a personal crest"  for the original design on paper, and an explanation of the different symbols on the ring.]

Below is a photo of how the actual ring turned out. 

As I worked with the designer, we decided to turn the sword sideways and have the blade wrap around the ring.  In addition, the musical whole-note is on the back of the ring and not visible in the photo.  I think it turned out really well.

The jeweler I worked with, deSignet International,  was fantastic and reasonably priced.  They have a website, but are physically located near Niagra Falls.  Their designers - Harry, Bob, and Reg - were very helpful and talked me through the process.  They were open to my ideas while providing the experience I didn't have to translate my thoughts into reality.  I have no problem recommending them to you.  On their website, you can see lots of designs for men and women, and they enjoy custom work, as they did for me.

Hope this gives you ideas for remembering your own identity.

Creating a personal crest/ coat of arms

Last week, I told you I'd show you something I've done to capture my new name in physical form.

Coats of arms and family crests have long been used to express identity -- what a family, clan, or person stands for.  As I've been looking back over my story and doing research for my next book on personal identity, I've decided to create a visual metaphor that captures the new name (s) God has given to me.

Remember, he often re-names his loved ones because he wants to restore something in us, and he wants to affirm what we offer the world.  Further, God is often attempting to heal a wound when he speaks a new name to us, and affirm what we mean to him.

Here's the symbolism in each of my personal crest's parts below:  I designed this to reflect my unique story:

The sword of Aragorn - In the Lord of the Rings, Aragorn is the wanderer-warrior and heir to the throne.  "Aragorn" is a name God bestowed upon me to help me understand my story, reveal a strength I doubted, and to heal some wounds.

A gold musical whole-note in the middle of the sword's handle guard.  "You are my 'Bruce Hornsby' is another piece of the identity puzzle.  I'm a writer, but also have been a musician for four decades.  Again, God wants to heal a wound here, as well as affirm what he wants me to bring to the world. 

Three interlocking rings:  the Royal Fellowship, the Trinity, that welcomes me to fight with them, and ultimately rule with them  (Yep, the bible actually says that we will rule with him.)

The roman numerals CXLIV -- translated is "144."  This number stands for Psalm 144:1 -- "Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle."  Whether I'm sitting at the piano or at the computer keyboard, war is being waged -- beauty against desolation, meaning against futility, heart against religiousity.

The larger circle surrounding the sword:  the fellowship of those who have gone before. 

There are a number of things you can do with a personal crest. 

• First, you can ask a graphic designer to create one for you that reflects your deep heart, your renaming.
• Second, the crest can be printed, matted, or as in my case, a ring can be engraved with your crest on it.  I found a jeweler who is creating a ring based upon my design and should be receiving mine in the next couple weeks.

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What would your personal crest look like?

Changing our nature...what has already occurred within

Why does God insist on making us loveable, lovely, whole?  For certainly he has always loved us, even when we were unlovable; yet this wasn't enough for him, says C.S. Lewis:

"...it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less."  - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

"We may wish, indeed, that we were of so little account to God that He left us alone to follow our natural impulses - that he would give over trying to train us into something so unlike our natural selves:  but once again, we are asking not for more Love, but for less."  -- C.S.  Lewis, The Problem of Pain

I want to answer Lewis here (not knowing how he might respond)...   In order to fashion us into the supernaturally glorious creatures he desires and loves into wholeness, God indeed did change our natural selves, our natural impulses -- from unlovely to noble and good.  This he did at the level of the heart. 

We need not wait for heaven for this.  It has already happened.  It is the promise of Ezekiel 36:26 fulfilled (and in other places throughout Scripture).  We now grow out of that new and noble nature with its noble impulses.  We practice our new nature.  Discipleship is learning how to live from that good heart.

THE GOOD & NOBLE HEART community

For those who may not know, I set up an online community based around the message of the Christian's good and noble heart.  Folks are finding meaningful connections there and talking about the things of the heart (the center of the person, in Scripture). 

Joining is free.  Set up your own page, blog, discussion topics.  Click here for more.

Learning how to handle power

God wants to share his power.  Aptly wielded, power brings transformation and healing to the world.  He has intended to share his power from the very beginning:

"Adam, you may name the great variety of animals on the earth." "Adam and Eve, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.".

"What!!...are you crazy, God!? Don't give them that invitation; they'll screw it up!" But God risks because he shares.

Children need a sense of power, which must include the capacity for choice. Of course, the limits on that power must be age-appropriate, but stripping a child of power will wound them: "I am your father and you will do exactly as I say!" Left with only one acceptable option, and the threat of punishment if they don't choose that one acceptable option, a child will be stripped of dignity -- because dignity involves the divinely-given capacity for choice.  Power requires choices. 

What our children need to hear is this:

"Not only do you have an option here, you may choose. Of course the consequences will also be yours, but I will never remove either your choices or their consequences. I love you too much."

As Danny Silk suggests in his book, Loving Your Kids On Purpose, when you strip a child of the ability to choose between option A or B, the only way to ensure they comply is through the threat of punishment. ...and that only leads to fear: "If I don't do what mommy or daddy wants, I will disappoint them... or worse."

"Perfect (whole, complete) love casts out fear." Love and fear don't co-exist well.

God is teaching us adults how to use his power, to exercise it well; and I've been afraid of that my whole life: "But, if I get to choose here, what if I blow it? What if I choose the wrong thing?  Will you be disappointed?  Will I be outside of your will?"  ...and fear wounds the relationship.  Further, I never learn how to handle power favorably; and the only way to really learn is to screw it up sometimes.  You don't learn until you really get the consequences.  But if you live in constant fear of blowing it, you don't learn how to handle power-- You only learn fear.

Our capacity for choice is a bit unnerving.  We're given a lot of latitude when it comes to chosing.  But that latitude is wholly necessary for learning to handle power...and therefore love.  Love bestows power.

A Kingdom of nobles

“For God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo.
Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity.”

– C.S. Lewis

As ironic as it is, Christians (those who participate in a Kingdom) have largely lost the concept of  nobility.

Perhaps the notion of nobility got lost when the the last knights and ladies of the Middle Ages died off. Or perhaps we've lost the idea of nobility because we've lost a part of the Gospel itself.  What I mean is this:  In our attempts to be 'authentic' to each other, the world and to God, we've not only recognized the depths of our sin, we've decided that our selves are synonymous with those foul places.

Yet Scripture has stated otherwise:

"But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart."
-- Luke 8:15

Something better now defines us:  something stronger, regal and resplendent.  This transformation wasn't a mere brushing-up, nor a tinkering with the old in order to improve it.  It was something wholly different:  a bestowing of a fundamentally different nature -- supernatural supplanting natural.

Does the idea of Christian nobility sound too prideful for us? Are we so used to living in the mud of false humility that we cannot receive the more substantial redemption he is offering?

In C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, the children who become allies of the great Lion discover what they were meant for all along, as Aslan renames them in order to reveal their true natures:

And Aslan gave the children each a new name:

• Peter will be known now as, "King Peter the Magnificent."
• Susan will be called, "Queen Susan the Gentle."
• Edmund will be known as, "King Edmund the Just."
• Lucy will be called, "Queen Lucy the Valiant."

Whitney Young once said, "The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self." Through the strong rescue of Jesus, you are no longer this "former self" -- no matter how things appear to you. As C.S. Lewis reminds us,

“For God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo. Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity.”

That is to say, your new and noble glory surpasses the goodness and character of Adam and Eve -- before they fell.  Through his transforming rescue in you, our Lord has out-done himself again.