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AN AMAZING FACT: The Pony Express transported mail 1,900 miles from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in only 10 days! Forty men, each riding 50 miles a day, dashed along the trail on 500 of the best horses the West could provide. Even though the express route was extremely hazardous, only one mail delivery is known to have been lost.
The Express is credited with helping to keep California in the Union by providing rapid communication between the two coasts. News of Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the outbreak of Civil War reached California via the Pony Express.
Stringent rules were followed to conserve weight. Clothing was light, saddles were small and thin, and no weapons were carried. Even the horses wore light shoes or none at all! Yet despite all the rigorous weight precautions, each rider carried a full-sized Bible! It was presented when a rider joined the unit, and he took it with him on his routes.
Horses have been important in many cultures for centuries in battle, transportation, and communication. In Zechariah’s prophecy of the day of the Lord, the horses of the enemies will be struck blind (Zechariah 12:4) and are later said to receive a plague (14:15). Yet in that final day when God will reign forever, it says, “‘HOLINESS TO THE LORD’ shall be engraved on the bells of the horses” (14:20).
God loves horses, and someday even these creatures will proclaim (by their apparel) that the Lord is righteous and holy. Like the Pony Express, perhaps you will be one of the joyful riders on a horse through the streets of the New Jerusalem proclaiming this wonderful message.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 39:20
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