Fridays are for Newspaper Articles

The following is my weekly article in the Canyon Lake (TX) Times-Guardian:

                 “A Painful Lesson from NASCAR” 

            I am not a rabid NASCAR fan.  But, we do have some people in our church who are pretty close to NASCAR fanatics.  And I probably know just about enough about their favorite sport to sound ridiculous when I talk to them about it. 

Perhaps it is most accurate to say that I watch NASCAR when there is a big race and when there is no other sporting event on that really interests me that much.  With this in mind, why was I watching the Daytona 500 this past Sunday?  After all, there was all the hoop-la surrounding the NBA All-Star Game, not to mention the L.A. Open on the PGA tour.  So, what swayed me?

First of all, to watch a basketball game with no defense being played is like watching baseball when everybody is guaranteed to get a hit.  The scoring and the “bull-fighter” defense (i.e., wave at the guy with the ball as he goes by to the basket) gets old very fast.  Second, as a “lefty” myself, I am a Phil Mickelson fan, but golf is a SLOWWWW sport.  In that respect, it is no comparison to the adrenaline rush from watching NASCAR.

But, this is the real biggie: in my opinion—as short-sighted as it might be—there is nothing else in NASCAR that compares to Daytona.  For reasons that completely defy logic, NASCAR has its “Super Bowl” at the very beginning of the season, rather than at the end.

So, now you know why I was watching the Daytona 500.  But, what did I notice that really stood out to me enough to write this article about it?

I’m so glad you asked!  Here’s what I saw (and it’s really quite simple, but that does not mean it is not also extremely important!): Not every driver who started the race finished… and only one (Ryan Newman, hardly a pre-race favorite) won.

OK, go ahead and lambaste me for just stating the obvious!  But, here’s the thing: those realities—not all finish what they start and only one wins—are often overlooked on the spiritual side of life.  And, because that is so true, it can potentially be greatly helpful to underline them again here.

On the subject of striving to win, in 1 Corinthians 9:24, the Apostle Paul says, “Do you not know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize?  Run in such a way to win.”  So, if you are already a Christian, that is the attitude you should have about living for the Lord: “Run” your life with the kind of focus that is a winner in God’s sight. 

No, that does not mean “win at all costs!”  Instead, it means to give your absolute best while doing everything God’s way.  Often “winning” in the eyes of the world is losing in God’s eyes, because of the borderline practices, if not outright cheating (e.g., the current performance enhancing substance scandal in baseball).

But, it is also necessary to finish the race well (9:27).  The Christian life is a marathon race, not a sprint.  How sad it was that some of the cars and drivers at Daytona were right up at the front of the race until just a few laps from the end, then crashed.  That is a sad thing in a race when so much financially is at stake, such as at Daytona.  But, it is even far more tragic when a Christian has a moral/spiritual blow-out and “crash” later in life.  So, we must make sure that we are in it for the long-run, to the glory of God.  There are great spiritual rewards in the presence of the Lord that we would forfeit if we do not “finish strong.”

Coming Monday: “An Initial Overview of Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)”