A Killer Race

I can't honestly say i've ever cared about horse racing but something caught my attention today.  One of the horses racing in the Kentucky Derby left the race track flat out dead.  Death is something that always catches my attention, as probably most other people (so i don't feel so weird about it!).  One thing really caught my attention, they put the horse down right there on the track.  The horse did not die from racing, the horse died from two broken ankles and could not make its way off the track!  Thats commitment.  Easy to say since i wasn't on the receiving end of a small man beating me with a stick (i'm far from PETA so don't think about it) but i'm positive it would "inspire" me to giddy up!  This got me thinking about a comment i've heard a lot lately, "you don't want to be a youth pastor forever do you?  You're just working up to becoming a campus pastor right?"  This is the most ignorant statement i've ever heard.  Maybe its too personal, but shouldn't we be following what God has called us to do not what we feel is the "next step?"  When God calls us to do something, we should be willing to die on the track, on the journey.  I hope to be put out without missing a beat, finish the race and right there on the track be retired from the task of taking breaths.  Im in a killer race, one that i'll die for, one that i'll die doing.  Somedays it feels as though the pain wont let me continue, distractions slow me, vision is hazy and i get out of focus but at the end of all that, i still find myself running.  I hope to never be a campus pastor, i hope to never be led off the track and put in the barn to graze until i die.  I hope that i can finish strong, the leader of the pack in the "lane" that God has given me to run in.