Of horses and men

Last summer a 33-year-old New Jersey man named Ian MacDonald went through great pains to slice a 12-foot-long bronze statue of a horse named Primitive from its base at the defunct Garden State Park racetrack that closed in 2004. There were tracks of a front-end loader at the scene of the crime. "They used a piece of construction equipment to knock it from its pedestal, then broke it apart, I guess, in manageable pieces and carried it away in a truck," said Police Lt. William Kushina. "I was shocked," said Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt. "I couldn't imagine anybody picking up a more than a ton horse and carting it off."

The horse had been sculpted by Thomas Schonberg, the same artist who did Philadelphia's famous Rocky statue. MacDonald sold the scraps for $4,000. As a work of art, it was worth $55,000.

Now let's see, what are the teaching moments we can glean from this story? Men dream too small? Men are too clever by half? (Or by seven hundredths?) Better to do your homework first, and then attempt difficult tasks? God offers us the true riches-relationship with him-and we trade in our birthright for a bowl of potage? People who are out of fellowship with God can't see the forest for the trees, or the horse for the hooves, tail, and mane? The love of money makes horse's hinds of us all? "Sin boldly"-even if you're going to do a bad thing, at least do it right?

Any other parables pregnant here?

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