Made it Safely to Nashville

We are safe and sound in Nashville. I said we.... my wife, Deatra is accompanying me this trip! It is very exciting to have her along. I worked a half day at JDSU, then picked up the rental car, and headed south...... Special thanks again to Doug, George, and Zane at JDSU for covering for me while I am away from work and allowing me to have the time off!!!

I met with some of the hospitality chefs today to help coordinate the food pickup for this weekend. Interesting comment from one of the chefs today.... He told me that since he knows the food is never wasted, he intentionally buys more food than he will need. He does this for two reasons. 1) it helps him not have to plan so accurately for food usage and 2) he knows the food is always going to a good cause to help the homeless! Pretty cool stuff.... Who would have ever thought that the chefs would "overbuy" because they WANT to donate the food.... God is working.....

Also, special thanks to those of you who are praying specifically for me and the ministry. Your prayers are deeply appreciated!

Bending the Knee......

Made it home today safely from Richmond. Had a couple neat "God moments" on the grid before the race...... After praying with the teams on the grid I had one of the IRL Technical Inspectors come up to me and specifically requested prayer on the grid. She had never done that before, so it was neat to see how our sovereign God put me in the right place to be able to minister in that way.

Had another "first" on the grid.... Helio Castroneves' team did not qualify well for the race. When I approached them to pray, one of the team members replied, "ya, we need some serious prayer!" He then proceeded to drop to one knee. I responded by dropping to my knee with him and commented that we should pray humbly before the Lord. What followed was incredible....... one by one, the entire team (20 plus members) followed and everyone dropped to a knee. After then team was on a knee, we all put one hand in the middle of the circle and I prayed that God would bless their efforts. They ended up finishing second in the race!

Praise God the presence of His Holy Spirit in the midst of the business proceeding last night's race!!!! Thanks again for all your support..... My next race is in Nashville, TN in 2 weeks...

Hot & Humid in Richmond

Had a good day of qualifying and practice today at Richmond. Got everything ready to go for tomorrow Chapel Services. Met with Carrington from Good Samaritan Ministries in Richmond. They will be taking the excess food tomorrow after the race. We had a great prayer time together asking God to bless their efforts and use it to glorify Christ and further His Kingdom! Chapel services are at 1:45 and 3:15 tomorrow. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will lead!

On a side note..... The USAC Midgets were running tonight at Richmond. Tom, the flag man, invited me up to the flag stand to watch the start of the race from there!! IT WAS AWESOME! What a view! I even switched off the yellow track lights at the end of a cautions and handed him some of the flags.... Quite a different perspective. Tom is a Christian. Pray for his safety at these races. He is also flagging for the Indy Car race.

On another side note........ Bob and I were watching the end of the USAC race from the pits. As we sat there, the 9 car came into pits on fire and stopped right in front of us. As soon as the driver jumped out of the car, I grabbed a fire extinguisher and jumped over the wall. As I got to him, a couple other guys had doused him with water. I then went to the car that was still on fire and started putting the fire out. This entire time I thinking, " where are the fire guys?" As I was spraying the car down, they showed up and finished the job. Thank God nobody was hurt!! God does protect and provide!!!!!!!

In Richmond!!!!!

Made it to Richmond safely today. Met up with a few crew guys walking through the garage area. Chapel services will be on Saturday afternoon this week since it is a Saturday night race.

God is good. My prayer this week is that I will follow the Holy Spirit's leading in everthing I think, say and do!!!! Please pray and may God bless you for your continued support!

Pray for the people in Iowa

Had a great race in Iowa yesterday. Due to some weather in Chicago, I did not get into Indy until early Monday morning. Had some interesting and very specific prayer requests with some guys on the grid. Had a request for their fueling process on a pit stop and had another request for a particular crew member that had a lung collapse earlier in the weekend. Obviously, I honored those requests. But the interesting part is these guys are seemingly more comfortable with prayers and asking for prayer. That is huge in this environment.

I also had an ESPN reporter come up to me right before the race to specifically to request me to pray with him before he went on the air. We prayed on pit road that Holy Spirit would lead and guide him that day. I cried shortly after that and thanked God for allowing me to serve Him in that way......

Also, pray for the people of Iowa. The floods have left damage to many of the fields and crops in that area.

Thanks again for all your monetary and prayerful support!!!!!!!

Iowa Update

Great Indy Lights race today. The Indy Car qualifying was rained out. Had great opportunities to talk with many of the Indy Lights guys prior to the race. I prayed with many of the teams on the grid before the race.

There was one team member in particular that wanted a "good luck" handshake from me....... While there is no such thing as "luck", the interesting part about that seemingly brief interaction was he is accepting of our (the IRL Ministry) presence there. That acceptance is what we need relationally to open doors to later to approach these guys about Christ.

Keep praying!!!!!!!

It's All about Jesus!

That is why I am here in Iowa. It is about telling others about Christ and encouraging believers. Give God the glory!

Met with Bill from Hope Ministries (www.hopeiowa.org) today and a couple of other people from that organization. They will be picking up the food from this weekend's race for their shelter. Had a great fellowship and prayer time with these guys! Also met and prayed with Bill the motorcoach driver. He is going through some tough personal times. Pray for Bill and his faith during this time.

We are having a 9:30 chapel tomorrow for the Indy Lights guys. Pray for the service and their race tomorrow.

Iowa on Friday

I leave for Iowa on Friday. I will be returning late Sunday night. Please pray again for connections with team members, drivers, and officials that I may be an effective minister of the Gospel of Christ!

More updates from the track!

Headin' Home!

We had two great chapel services this morning. The Holy Spirit was truly present! I had the opportunity to pray with many teams on both the Indy Lights and the Indy Car grid today. We had both shelters, the Family House of Milwaukee and St. Benedict's at the track to pick up food for their shelters. Special thanks to both of those organizations for their extra efforts (and trips to the track) on race day. I'll give an update in later blogs reporting the amount. We were able to provide over 150 lbs of soap and shampoo products to St. Ben's for their hygiene program!

I will not be going to the Texas race this weekend. This was not a planned race for me this season. I look forward to the upcoming race in Iowa. Continue to pray for traveling safety for all involved and that the ministry will continue to be effective in sharing Christ's love with others in this community!

Report from Milwaukee

Got to Milwaukee safely yesterday and had a good day today. Met with two local mission groups and coordinated their credentials and logistics of picking up the food tomorrow. One group (www.stbensmilwaukee.org) picked up the left over food today. I had a great prayer time with both groups that the food would be used to feed the hungry and gloify Christ.

I also met with a motorcoach driver who is going through some tough marital issues. Pray for him as he struggles with being away from home during this difficult time.

I will be leaving directly from the race tomorrow evening and driving home. Pray for a safe race, Spirit led Chapel services, and safe travels. I am also singing tomorrow at the 2 Chapel services!!

Thank you for your support and prayers!!

Pray for Robert.......

During my month with Vision Racing, I met a guy named Robert. He is a young guy that gave his life to the Lord at an early age, but then fell away. He approached me one day after we were done running for the day and he asked me if I was a "preacher"....... I replied that I was a kind of a preacher... He confided in me how difficult it is to try to do the "right things" in this environment and that he wants to start going back to church. We sat on the pit wall for the next 20 minutes and talked about his struggles and his faith walk. I explained to him that being a Christian is not about "following the rules", it is about having faith in Jesus Christ. I told him once you have that faith, you will want to do the right things..... We also talked about the that he should be working as if he is working for the Lord and not man.... We also discussed how Jesus, as in the story of the prodigal son, is waiting for him on that front porch. That He will run towards him with open, accepting arms when he comes back to Christ.

I told Robert that earlier that very morning, in my devotion time, I was working on praying more expectantly. I prayed that God would send someone, today, that needed to hear from Him. I told Robert, God sent you...

I prayed with him on that pit wall, in pouring rain, under an umbrella..... He thanked me over and over...... I told him that is the way God works..... He went to Chapel service with me on race day. Please pray that Robert will continue to work on his relationship with Christ and that he will be protected in that environment.

Pray expectantly.......

Indy 500 Pit Stop

I am the air jack guy on the right!!!!

Hamilton Finishes 14th in the 500!

Davey Hamilton finished 14th still on the lead lap after a long hard race..... he fought an understear (push) condition all day long. We made air pressure changes and front wing changes to get him a better handling car. We found out after the race that we had a broken front wing adjuster that was causing the problem and not enabling us to make the changes.

Davey is a great guy and it was wonderful to have Kingdom Racing as a sponsor on the car (www.kingdomracing.net). Please pray for Davey, Kingdom Racing, and the guys on Vision racing!

Going "over the wall" for #22 - Davey Hamilton in the Indy 500

Found out yesterday that I will be going over the wall on Hamilton's car. Due to a recent change in personnel, they lost an airjack guy. So after a little shuffling of team members, the crew chief came up to me yesterday and said "your it"! So, during the race, I will be doing the air jack on the #22 car and adjusting the air pressure in the tires.

Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Sang at Indy Chapel Services!!

We had two great services last Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Very well attended and great message on the series of beatitudes. Bob's message was on meekness and I sang Lord, Reign on Me and East to West by Casting Crowns. God speaks in so many ways and touches people on different levels. He did so again this past Sunday. He is an amazing God!

Hamilton Qualifies 18th!

After a gearbox issue in the first practice session on Saturday, Davey qualified 18th for the Indy 500! We ran a 223.6 in the morning practice session, but did not have time to set the car up after the gearbox change prior to qualification. He did average a 222.017. I have a few pics below from the past couple weeks at the track! Thanks for your prayerful support!

Ministry as a Crew Member

It has been a very interesting week working at Vision Racing. I have had a number of guys come up to me and ask me if "I was the guy from the ministry". That has opened up many conversations about relationships, church attendance, an explanation of what the IRL Ministry does, and encouragement to have a relationship with Christ. It is imperative to "earn their trust" as you work along side. I also hope that my work ethic reflects the servant leadership of Christ.

I had a great conversation with one team member about struggles with forgiveness as it relates to past relationships. We discussed God's forgiveness for us and our sins and how it is difficult at times, in our humanness, to forgive others. I also had another conversation with another team member about how he "would like to go to church". He also seemed to have other questions and I let him know I was available for those conversations when he is ready. I will encourage him to go to a Chapel service with me this month!

Continue to pray for God to work through me in this team member capacity!

Chapel Services at Indy

We had two great services today at Indy. Vision racing had a day off so I was able to help Bob with the Chapel services. The current sermon series is on the Beattitudes. Pray for a good series and that people would be touched by God!

Food at the Kansas City Rescue Mission

The numbers are in! The Kansas City Rescue Mission collected 3450 pounds of food for the homeless from the Kanasas race! Praise God for His provisions and faithfulness!

Thanks again to Paul Masao and his staff for all their hard work!

Doin' tires for #22 Vision Racing entry w/ Davey Hamilton at the Indy 500

This year, in addition to my ministry responsibilities, I will be working for Vision Racing http://www.visionracing.com/ . They are running a third car for Indy that will be driven by Davey Hamilton. I will be responsible for the pit equipment and all the tires and pressures. This will be my 10th Indy 500 as a crew member!

Pray that I will be an effective minister of the Gospel as I work along side these guys. We are also trying to get a Bible study started at Vision's shop. I would lead that if it come to fruition. Pray that relationships that are established will help that effort and instill trust in the crew members.