Miracle for Marq Your Bible

An honest to goodness miracle has happened and I will proclaim it to anyone who will listen.

If you have been following the events of the last 5 days on my blog, you will know of what happened to Marq Your Bible on Friday night at Colonial Downs.  But just in case you are new to my blog and this amazing story, I will share some of what happened here.

Shortly after arriving at the paddock at Colonial Downs on Friday night, to be saddled for the 6th race, Marcus (Marq Your Bible) who was about to run in only his 2nd race, appeared to get startled by a nearby storm, with lots of cloud to ground lightning.   Three weeks before that night, he had been preparing for his first race, on the way to the paddock, when a tornado was sighted nearby.   So, it is understandable that he'd still be a bit sensitive to storms.

When he startled, he got away from his handler and raced out onto the racetrack.   Two outriders totally ignored the fact that a loose horse was there and kept on doing what they were doing, smoking, talking, etc.   Marcus made it to the barn area, where eye witness accounts have him crashing through a gate, then galloping over 1/2 mile down an asphalt road, then onto a gravel path, and when he spotted a way back onto the racetrack, he crashed through a chain link fence.   It was at this point, that someone got on the radio to the two outriders and told them to go get the loose horse.

They caught him on the backstretch, but instead of taking him to the barn area for a vet to look at, they ponied him all the way back to the paddock, where when he arrived, the trainer found he had a broken lead shank, so they would not be able to hold onto him properly, her fears were met when he easily got away from them again.   This time the outriders acted more quickly and caught Marcus, but again he was brought to the paddock, where he had to wait while the race was being run.

Back at the barn, a vet checked him over and only found two scratches and he appeared to be sound.   The trainer and I talked and I was to get a phone call or email Saturday evening with an update, as I knew injuries can show up a bit later.

Saturday, came and went and I heard nothing, but just kept hoping no news was good news.   On Sunday morning, the messages during Sunday School and during the service, by our new Pastor, spoke to me.   I am a Believer in God and talk to Him in prayer, maybe not as often as I should, but I felt God telling me to pray, as the sermon was talking about prayer.   God led me to pray a certain way during the service and then afterwards, when I was back at home.

I prayed for Marcus to be okay, to be sound, to not be hurt, I prayed for a calmness to sweep over Marcus and for him not to be that scared ever again.   I also prayed that his handlers would instinctively know what to do to calm him, like I was able to do with Marcus' mother, Red Devilette (Scarlette), when I was training her when she was a yearling and 2 year old.   I prayed that God would allow Marcus to be His champion, not a champion in the worldly sense, but God's Champion, meaning that his name, Marq Your Bible, might help plant seeds in people's hearts, that would open up and grow into these people accepting Christ and hence those seeds are to be seeds for Salvation.  Only God knows how he will use Marcus to be those seeds, but I had faith.

Sunday night I got an email from the trainer, she had called my cell phone on Saturday, but for some reason the network never gave me my voice mail.  She told me on Sunday night that Marcus was quite sore, so she had gotten an equine massage therapist to come out and give him a massage, which had already started to help.   She was concerned he had bucked his shins and wanted to have him x-rayed Monday morning to make sure there were no fractures.

Sunday night, I prayed again, for a miracle, for Marcus to no longer be sore, for him to have no fractures, no bucked shins, and again for Marcus to be God's champion.

I got a short email Monday morning, from the trainer, which basically said she was holding off one more day on the x-rays of Marcus legs, to Tuesday afternoon, when the vet always comes to her farm, because "Marcus is fine this morning."

I immediately started to praise God and knew He was working on a miracle.   I continued to pray off and on Monday and then Tuesday.

Tuesday evening, I got an unbelievable email message from my trainer.   Marcus' x-rays were totally clean, no signs of any kind of injury.  Not only that, but the vet felt he was improving so much that there was a chance he could race as soon as Saturday.   There happens to be a race for Saturday at Colonial Downs, so my trainer will enter him in this race.   She will monitor Marcus daily and if there is any concern in the least, he will not race, but if he continues to progress at the rate he is, he should be totally fine, could even be totally fine today (Wednesday).   We will not risk him in the race if he is not 100%, but there is a good chance he will be more than fine.

God is amazing!   In days we've gone from some of racing's lows to just in awe of God's wonder and love for a horse who He knows we love dearly.

I will probably never know why Friday's incident happened, but maybe it did to provide another miracle, something that will help people start to believe in God and His son, Jesus.   I know that God has granted a miracle, because all that Marcus did he should have a lot more than just some minor soreness and two small scratches.   God had Angels watching over Marcus, protecting him during his fearful run.

As a Christian, I know that some do not agree with horse racing, mainly due to the gambling aspect of the sport.   But God is in all things and He works through many ways to reach people.   I have felt Him leading me down the path into horse racing since 1985, when I saw Spend A Buck win the Kentucky Derby.  It would be wrong of me to run from God's calling, like Jonah ran.  This path has not been easy, this path with horses, the racing ones and non-racing ones, but I feel God led each of those horses into my life for a variety of reasons and those lessons were for me to learn, not others, and others just may not see those reasons, which is fine, but I pray they trust that God had his reasons and they should not question.

I've in fits of despair even questioned myself, why this path has been so hard, but God brings me right back to the understanding that this is where He wants me and what He wants me doing, no matter how difficult.   There are reasons I may not even see or know about, people I've touched that I don't know about, but God knows and it is His plan and I will follow the path He has laid out for me, no matter what others may think in my family, my church, or elsewhere.   From my Sunday School class, this past Sunday, we watched a video, and the message hit home with me, I strive to hear, when I get to Heaven, God say to me, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."   This is all that matters.   God's opinion of me is the only one that should really matter, as it is what matters at the end.