No Doubt
Have we ever had a doubt? I can say with confidence that we have. One of the most challenging things we need to overcome in our lives is our doubt. It comes in many forms; hesitation, uncertainty, reservation, misgiving, distrust, disbelief, and suspicion. Many of these terms we are familiar with without a doubt. How do we remove the doubt from our minds? Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
One of the prerequisites to being a championship race driver is guts, being able to drive the car closer to the edge, faster, than anyone else. To do that requires that you have complete trust in the car, the team that assembled it and the team that is working on it in the pits. Without that trust you cannot go fast. It also requires that you focus on what you need to do as a driver; hit your marks, feel the car, and pay attention to the changing conditions as the race develops. What happens when the driver doubts his car can go as fast as it needs to? What happens when a driver doubts he can drive the car as fast as it needs to?
I remember watching a car leave the pit once and the tires fell off before it got to the end of pit road. The team didn’t do its job and the car was not prepared to race. What do you think the driver thought the next time he left the pits? He doubted the car was prepared to race. He took it slow and wondered the entire time if something was going to fall off. His focus was not on driving, but on concern about the car being prepared right. You can’t win races if the driver isn’t focused 100% on driving.
I have also seen it happen when a driver loses his edge and starts to have second thoughts about driving the car to the edge to get the most out of it. This can be a byproduct of a bad crash or just a brush with losing control. Whatever the reason the driver is unable to get everything the car has to offer in the speed department.
When we doubt and second-guess our mind stops concentrating on what we can trust and starts thinking about all the reasons why something cannot happen. When that happens we become distracted and misguided. We start to lose our direction and wander into places where we should not go. Think about those forms of doubt I used in the first paragraph, where will they lead us?
When we become a Christian, we trust Christ with our life. We give over to him the guidance and direction of our thoughts and actions, what we say and do. What happens when He leads us to a place and we doubt His direction? What happens when He guides us and we refuse to trust Him? We cannot live the life God has for us if we second-guess everything God tells us to do. We will not build a relationship with Him based on trust. In the verses I used last week it asked us to Trust God and Trust also in Jesus. That means without a doubt. One of the things we need to develop as a Christian is our ability to trust God without doubting, without uncertainty, without reservation, without misgiving, without distrust, without disbelief, and without suspicion. God has the best life we could ever live in store for us. He created us and loves us. When we learn to trust Him and live based on His direction we live the fullest, most satisfying life possible. Who should know how to live the best life? The creator of life itself, God.
Remove the doubt from your mind. Don’t let it guide you away from God’s will. Practice trusting God and watch how He honors that trust. You will be blessed. I remember what James said;
James 1:2-8, Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
We must practice trusting God and as we develop that trust we become mature and complete, able to persevere the difficulties we face in life. If we doubt we become wishy-washy and are tossed from here to there not knowing what is true or right. Our lives are without direction. Notice one important sentence in this passage, God gives generously without finding fault. We can ask God for guidance and direction no matter who we are or what we have done and He will give us the answer. The challenge is on our side, can we hear His voice and do we want to follow His direction?
I encourage you this week to work on removing the doubt from your life, remove the doubt that keeps you from trusting God with your entire life. I can testify that God is trustworthy and He will supply everything we need. As David said in Psalms; The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need. Don’t let the simplicity of that escape your understanding, trust in Him who created all things. God Bless, Rev. Don
THOUGHTS FROM THE ROAD
The week started on Tuesday at Stafford Motor Speedway for their Extreme Tuesday event for the Pro4’s, NEMA Midgets and IMSA Supers. These cars can be challenging to get staged and run, but other than a timing issue for the Supers in qualifying this event rolled off without a hitch. Erica Santos rolled into victory lane to become the first woman to win a NEMA event. Nokie Fonoro was the most animated with her victory, after he had to park his ride he was cheering Erica on from pit road. Bobby was in the garage area turning wrenches for Erica and the whole family got into the act. I am sure Bobby Sr. is smiling and celebrating.
Joey Payne came home second. You may remember the wife of Joey’s car owner, Marylyn Angelillo, underwent surgery at the start of the season. She is making progress. At this time she is battling an infection but is in good spirits. I am told she is a fighter and will overcome this setback. Keep her in your prayers.
The Supers were just that super. What can you say about these fast, openwheeled races? They were awesome, fast and loud. Rob Summers brought home his first IMSA victory. Great job Rob.
Jeff Zuidema brought home the Pro4 victory and I was home by 10:30.
The BES joined the fendered divisions at Thompson for a beautiful summer Saturday of racing. The PASS tour was also on the card to complete the Full Fendered Frenzy. The BES closed out the day’s action with three late race restarts that had the fans on their feet. The Pepsi 100 went to lap 108 to decide the victor. Sean Caisse and Matt Kobyluck engaged in a classic dual for the last quarter of the race and raced side by side to the checkers. Sean made it to the line first followed by Matt and Mike Olsen. Again when the BES visits a track that they have traditionally run the old North teams have the advantage. It will be interesting to see what happens next year when we come back to some of these venues.
Received a surprise visit from Gary Dionne, our assistant west coast coordinator, he was in town to do some filming and made the trip to the race to surprise us. Dan and I were surprised. As some of you know
Another name familiar in the Busch East is Glen Reen, he has worked on a couple different crews and has his own racing career. He won his third race Friday night in his #17 SK lite at
This week Dan and I head to
Be a witness for our Lord with the ministry decals and apparel. See them at the Online Apparel Store at www.RWJM.org. Call us with your prayer and counseling needs and list all your prayer needs, no matter what part of our racing family you are in, with the Racing Family Prayer Request Page www.rwjm.org/page/prayers.php also send your prayer request by mail. Until next time, remember that God loves you, we love you and
Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing. GOD BLESS.
Mail reaches us at Racing with Jesus Ministries, PO Box 586, Tolland, CT 06084. Check our weekly printed pages in “Area Auto Racing News”, the East Coast’s largest weekly racing paper” See our on-line Apparel Store for subscription information. Check our home page www.rwjm.org for past articles. We invite you to input your thoughts as you sign our Guest Book. Please remember, we can only do what we do because of your prayerful financial support.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
May God always Bless you, everyday in everyway. Rev. Don
CHECKERED CHEERS
***WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES***
July 21
JERRY & LINDA SOLOMITO- It is 21 laps together for this Long Island driver and wife.
July 22
BRAD & LYNN LEIGHTON- This Center Harbor, NH BES Grand National driver and wife share their 16th anniversary.
PHIL & BETTY SMITH- This veteran writer and wife of Westerly, RI celebrate their special day.
July 23
RED & STELLA MEAD- This Hyde Park, VT White Mountain Motorsports Park (NH) driver and wife share their 22nd anniversary.
DAVE & SHIRLEY ALEXANDER- This retired Maine Modified driver and wife have turned their track 40 times.
***HAPPY BIRTHDAYS***
July 18
STEPHEN LEATY- Jan’s next son.
RON CORNELL- Westport, MA AARN columnist and candle maker.
MAGGIE WOODS- The daughter of Tammy and Woody who works for Evernham Racing R&D, living in Mooresville, NC turns 7.
July 20
PETE HAMILTON- Retired Massachusetts driver for Richard Petty won the Daytona 500 in the 70’s.
DAVE WHEELER- Lisbon, CT former LM driver.
DAVE SHIPPEE- Former writing partner of New London, CT’s John Brouwer, Sr. now retired in NH.
MIKE MONNETT- Owego, NY writer.
HAROLD K. DAUNCEY- Son of NJ asphalt Mod driver Harold and wife Barbara is 14.
July 21
BOBBY WILKINS- Milford, DE Dirt Modified driver.
TIM McCAULEY- Huntington Beach, CA NASCAR West driver.
July 22
RON YOUNG- Conyers, GA NASCAR All Pro Series driver.
CHRISTOPHER SAVLUK- Son of Lisbon, CT Crew Chief Roger.
RICH YANNETTA- Bridgewater, NJ Flemington go-kart driver.
JULIANNE ELIZABETH COX- The youngest of Bob and Tracy is 4.
July 23
BUCKSHOT JONES- Monticello, GA former BGN driver.
DEBBIE KRODEL- Keith’s wife, both Sprint and NASCAR WMT fans, in Pensacola, FL.
July 24
JEFF HERBERT- Wall Township Speedway Modified driver.
STAN WATTLES- Glen Cove, LI born, now Sewall’s Point, FL IRL driver.
LEONARD WAGNER- This Schwenksville, PA Grandview Speedway fan, along with wife Earlene, is also a Dale Jarrett fan.
JUDY ROBINSON- Wife of Bill, daughter of Doris Bradley, fan of Wall Speedway, New Egypt and NASCAR fan of Ricky Rudd. Sister of Sally and Tammy.
*** IN THE SHOP ***
ACE LANE JR- Ace suffered a heart attack on June 29, 2007. Ace is better and resting at home after a brief hospital stay and surgery. Keep Ace in your thoughts and prayers. Send cards of encouragement to Ace Lane Photography, 230 Centre Street, Nutley, NJ, 07110
STAFF SGT. BRIAN GSCHEIDLE- Brian is the stepson of WMT official Joe Larsen. Brian has just been deployed to Bagdad, Iraq on a special mission scheduled for 15 months. Please keep him and the rest of his unit in your prayers. Ask Jesus to look after him, keep him and his unit safe and bring him back to his wife and two children as soon as possible.
SHARE YOUR SPECIAL OCCASIONS WITH YOUR RACING FAMILY. SEND THEM TO RACING WITH JESUS MINISTRIES AT PO BOX 586, Tolland, CT, 06084