Update from Chicago!

Wow... it was cold.... I thought this was August? Anyway, we have a good weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. We had both chapels outside in victory circle! Michelle Murray (http://www.myspace.com/michellemurraycom) sang for our services. Thanks to Michelle and her band for making that extra effort! Also thanks to Chicagoland Raceway Ministries for their help with the collection and distribution of the food to the less fortunate this weekend.

I had a number of guys share with me this weekend how they are seeing God moving and working in their lives. Trust and faith were the common themes in our discussions. One example was the crew member who lost his son last year to suicide. He shared a story of a man that came forward last week in their church service that would have never done that had it not been for his son's situation..... God heals... Another shared that God has provided him employment during the off season. He told me that God does provide; just like the Bible says about the birds of the air.... God cares..... And another that told me his mother went through a successful cancer surgery. "They got it all", he told me with enthusiasm. "Praise God", I replied, "Praise God!" God answers.....

As my wife accompanied me on the grid for team prayers prior to the races this weekend, she made an interesting observation. She said that the team members were "getting used" to Bob and me approaching their cars for prayer. If they see me coming, some even take the initiative to gather the team members! I heard comments like, "we need all the prayer we can get" and "time for church". There are still the individuals that walk away, but many others are accepting. Give God the credit and glory.........

How about you..... do you trust God? Do you have faith? Do you believe he cares? Are you "getting used" to having God present in your life? Or do you still just walk away?

Thanks for your prayers and support!

Practice, Quals, & Crashes

Pray for both Will Power and Nelson Phillipe as they were involved in a bad crash today at Infineon. Pray for healing and quick recovery form their injuries. Our Catholic chaplain, Father Phil, accompanied the families to the hospital today for support.

I connected with a few hospitality people that are dealing with family issues. Pray for these hurting people.

Our Chapels are at 8 & 9 tomorrow. Pray that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified!

Load in day at Infineon & Team Jesus!

While there was no track activity today, everyone was busy setting up the pits, getting tires mounted, etc. This gave me a lot of time to talk with many of the guys in the garage area. The one common thread was there are a lot of hurting, worried, tired, and burdened guys in the IRL community. Please pray for these crew members that are hurting. Some have a relationship with the Lord and others just need Jesus. All were reaching out.......

Also, special thanks to "Team Jesus"! (http://team-jesus-motorsports.com/) They are a Top Fuel drag race team that is also heavily involved in motorsports ministry at this track. They have a love for Christ that is motivating! They provided the camper for Bob to stay in at the track this weekend, a golf cart for our use at the track, and they will be distributing the food excess from this weekends race to local homeless shelters.

Stay tuned......... Blessings!!

A Broken Reading Light on the way to California!

Arrived safely today in California for this weekend's race in Sonoma. I started to do some reading on my flight our here and need a reading light.... No biggie, turn it on and adjust it... As I did, it fell off in my hands. Hmmm... Are they gonna charge me an extra piece of luggage or something for this, I wondered. I took it to the back galley and handed it to one of the two flight attendants standing back there.

One was reading a woman's devotional. I inquired about what she was reading..... We talked a few minutes and she began to share with me that today, when they landed in her home town of Phoenix, she was going to a home/hospital with her dog..... It is a special visitation ministry that uses animals..... She (and her dog) has had to go through alot of training to get to this point. Today was her first visit and she was excited, but nervous about it. God provided the opportunity for me to pray with her in the back galley of that 737 today. I prayed that God would bless her ministry and everything would go smoothly. Her name is Wendy. Pray for her ministry if God leads you to...

Also pray for the IRL Ministry. We have sold the motorcoach due to lack of funding. It will be used in Chicago for the last time. It sold quickly, so we are thankful to our God who provides in all circumstances for that. It will change the way we do things at the track, so pray we will adapt well....

More updates tomorrow! God Bless!

"It Takes a Special God"

Good practice and qualifications today.... Got everything ready to go for our 7:30 and 9:30 chapel services. Please pray that God would move on the hearts of those who need to attend and hear from Him! (I am also singing at tomorrow's chapels, so please pray for me!)

The hotel manager asked me if my team "won" today (she is not a big race fan). I quipped I told her I worked as a Chaplain for the league and explained a little bit of what we do. She replied, " wow, it must take a special person to do that"! I responded, "no, it just takes a special God".

God is special. God is good. Believe.

Mid-Ohio quote "Repent - You are a Sinner"

Arrived at the track this afternoon safely! We distributed Chapel flyers and soap collection boxes. During my trip thru the garage area, a talked with one crew member in particular that told me that "God was mad at him". I replied and told him that God is not mad at him..... He told me he loved God but has done things that would make God mad. I told him he just needed to accept God's grace and forgiveness through true repentance. He said, " I know all about that".

He held his wrist up at me. On one side it was tattooed "REPENT" then he turned it over and is was tattooed "YOU ARE A SINNER". I said, "wow"! You do know a little about repentance. I told him that once you've repented, you God forgives and forgets the sin. He got busy at that moment......

I told him if he wants to talk further about God's grace, give me a shout.... He said he would look me up.......

Pray. Examine. Repent. Accept. Praise.

Weepers, Chapels, and Races

All track activity was cancelled yesterday due to "weepers" on the track. Water from all the rain was coming up thru the cracks in the track. This gave us a lot of time to wander around talking to crew guys as they waited for the track to dry.

The Chapel services are today at 1:30 & 3:30. Pray that God will move in a mighty and powerful way! Both the Indy Lights race and the Indy Car race will be run today. Pray for the safety of the crews, officials, and drivers!

Thanks for your support & may God continue to bless you!