You saved me...

One of our drivers who doesn't typically pray prior to the race had me pray with his wife next to the car. I prayed with his wife for his protection and her peace. He was involved in a fairly significant accident this weekend and was not hurt. When we talked after the race, he said to me, "You saved me! (with your prayer)". I responded, I did not save you. I simply make the request. God saved you."

No one has ever done that before....

While going down the grid today offering prayer to every driver, I had something happen to me that had never happened before. As I was ending the prayer with one particular driver and said, "and I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.", the driver immediately grabbed me closer and started praying for ME! Ya, he thanked God for me and thanked Him that I was still here on this earth! Wow! I was blown away!

When he finished praying for me, he gave me a great big bear hug and told me he appreciated what I do. I told him thank you and that no one has ever done that for me before....

God shows us confirmation is so many different ways, I believe we miss it sometimes...  I did not miss that today. Thanks God.

Baltimore Grand Prix!

In Baltimore, MD for the Baltimore Grand Prix this weekend! All four of the INDYCAR series will be running (USF2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, & INDYCAR). Pray for safety for all involved and that God moves in a mighty and powerful way this weekend!

The USF2000 & Star Mazda chapel is at 8:30 AM on Sunday morning at the USF2000 transporter. Also, special thanks to the people working with the Velocity Channel this weekend as they will be capturing footage of INDYCAR Ministry in action in all four series in preparation for a new INDYCAR Ministry promo video!

Thanks for praying! God is faithful.

To Live is Christ!

My blog entries are usually how I see God working in other people's lives. This entry is how I saw God working in mine...

While at Road America this past weekend with the USF2000 series, I started to experience my heart racing...literally. I thought it was nothing until I couldn't catch my breath and started to feel faint and dizzy. After the symptoms did not go away for an hour, I drove myself to an immediate care center. Upon arrival, my heart rate was 256 and I was immediately put on oxygen and an EKG machine. They then took me by ambulance to a local hospital for further evaluation. The ER doctor saw something strange on my EKG. She faxed it to a heart specialist at a Milwaukee hospital. Upon evaluation, they wanted me at that hospital for an emergency procedure the next day. So they transported me by ambulance again to the Milwaukee hospital.

The cardiologist said not many people survive what I went thru (heart rate at 250+). He said this condition usually results in a severe drop in blood pressure and cardiac arrest ending in death.

The procedure went well Friday. They went up thru a vein into my heart and were able to recreate the problem in the operating room. They ablated 2 electrodes in my heart that were causing the rapid arrhythmia problem. They also sealed an extra pathway in my heart.

The apostle Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain".... I believe God saved my life and He has more for me to do for Him on this earth! I will live for Christ and for his purpose and kingdom!!!

Do not waste another minute of your life. If you have not surrendered your life to Christ, do it today. If you are already a Christ follower, commit your life to service for Him. Live for Christ!

Trois Rivieres - Faithful to Death!

Today in the chapel at Trois Rivieres, QC, we talked about the night before Jesus was crucified, after praying all night and asking his Father three separate times, is this the only way? He realized that this was going down and in Matthew 26:46, he said to the disciples, "Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

In the midst of danger, when Jesus knew they were coming to take him away, staring in the face of death, Jesus said, “Rise! Let’s go!” Let’s go.. not to run away, but to face the will of God for His life here on earth. To face his betrayers head on. To say I will do the will of God, no matter the rejection, the separation from God, the cost, the pain, or even if I die.

Jesus was faithful – even to the point of death!

Should we do the same? What does that look like for our lives?

We are to - Die to self and surrender to our lives to Christ. Matthew 16:24 - Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

We are to - Endure, fight the good fight of faith. Matthew 10:22b – “He who endures to the end will be saved.”

We are to - Be faithful our entire life on earth. Revelation 2:10b - Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Will you be "faithful to death"?

Give God the Glory!

After praying with Star Mazda driver Sage Karam today before qualifying at Trois Rivieres, he looked at me and said, "Give God the glory!" I asked, "Can I quote you on that?" He responded, "Yup!" He went on to say, "You have told me that enough times that it is beginning to sink in."

It's pretty awesome to see God working in the lives of these young, talented drivers. It's doubly awesome when they think about who has entrusted them with their talents.

Are you giving God the glory?

Life as you overcome.....

Heading to Trois Rivieres today for the Star Mazda and Indy Lights events this weekend. It has been a tough week, but the devotional below by Ozwald Chambers reminds us that God will bring us through all adversaries! Thank you Jesus!

"The typical view of the Christian life is that it means being delivered from all adversity. But it actually means being delivered in adversity, which is something very different. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling . . .” (Psalm 91:1,10)— the place where you are at one with God. If you are a child of God, you will certainly encounter adversities, but Jesus says you should not be surprised when they come. “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” He is saying, “There is nothing for you to fear.” The same people who refused to talk about their adversities before they were saved often complain and worry after being born again because they have the wrong idea of what it means to live the life of a saint. God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as we overcome."

Why Pray?

In chapel today we asked some questions about prayer.....  Do you struggle with prayer? Do you pray at all? Are your prayers typically for God to do something, fix something, or grant a wish or desire? Is your prayer to impose your will on God or to seek God's will for your life? What if in our prayers to God, we ask, as Jesus did, "not as I will, but thy will be done".

Our prayer should not be to move God towards our plan, but to seek God's plan for our life.

Why pray? Not to move God to us, but to move us closer to God.

Momentary Troubles

The Star Mazda race was littered with broken race cars and broken feelings during the dry and wet conditions.The conversations I had today and the way the race ended up reminded me that this life is full of wrecks, bumps, and bruises. Paul reminds us that these difficulties are temporal when he wrote,"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." - 2 Corinthians 4:17

We are to fix our eyes on Jesus. The seen in this world will pass away while the unseen is eternal.

O Canada!

Edmonton this weekend for Star Mazda....  Chapel is at 7:30am on Sunday morning. The message is "Why Pray" and is part of our sermon series "Faithful to the Finish".
Thanks for your continued support!

Come near to God

In chapel today, we talked about James 4:7-10 - ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

There are a couple interesting points about this section of scripture...   look at the action words in these verses... Submit, resist, come, wash, purify, grieve, change, humble.... Those are all things that we are to do as believers!

Imagine you are standing at a door. Imagine that on the other side of this door stands Jesus Christ. Let’s look at those actions we just talked about….

1. Submit - take a step towards the closed door. Your heart races as you realize you need to surrender your life.
2. Resist – we take a step back in human fear. We fight the notion from satan that God will not accept us as we are.
3. Come – you approach the door and raise your hand to knock. We think about how He will see us.
4. Wash – we consider that we are about to stand before a Holy God. You ask yourself, “What is the condition of my heart?”
5. Grieve – we drop to a knee and confess our sinfulness and short comings.
6. Humble – when nothing is left of us; no pride, no selfishness, no attitude. We knock…

The door opens slowly and we see Jesus on the other side of the door. We look up and he smiles at us. He holds out his hand and says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." - Luke 11:9.
Humble yourself and God will lift you up. The more you move toward God, the more you can count on God moving toward you. Where do you stand? It's your move...

Whatever you did for one of the least of these...

....you did for me. - Jesus
Many of our Star Mazda drivers visited a local Toronto children's hospital. They signed autographs and showed the kids an Indy car....  But one of our drivers, Gabby Chaves, got autographs from the kids! He had them sign his driving shoes! He also placed 3rd in today's race! Nicely done Gabby!

Be faithful in......

I was excited today to have one of the drivers, who has never prayed before, requested prayer before practice today!! Paul says, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." - Romans 12:12. I will continue to be joyful in the hope, the hope of glory, patient in any affliction that comes my way, and will always be faithful in prayer. Will you?

It's 4:33am and......

I am sitting in the kitchen doing my daily devotions and prayer. My flight leaves at 6:55am to Toronto for the INDYCAR event this weekend. I just had a great weekend getaway with my wife. I am a little tired and and for some reason, a bit discouraged this morning. In the devotion is a quote from John 14:1, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me."

My phone buzzed with a new message and I think, "Who sends an email at 4:33am?" God does. The email read:

David,

I hope all is well with you, your family and your ministry. I have not seen you lately, but was wondering how your return to school was progressing. I admire your dedication to speading the Word of Jesus and taking the necessary steps to a full-time ministry. My wife and I pray for you often. Take care & God bless.

This was from a brother in Christ from my church! God used him to send encouragement my way when I needed it the most! When it's 4:33am and dark outside, let not your hearts be troubled. God provides. God inspires. God does.

Thanks Mark for letting God work through you!

What you did was....

amazing.... That is what a fan said to me last weekend in Iowa after I had finished offering prayer to each driver in the Star Mazda series. He said, "You went to every one of them, every car." I thanked him for saying something and I said, "You must be a Christian?" He replied, "No, I am not". Much to my surprise I asked if he believed in God. He was not sure where he stood on the topic, but he said again what you did there was amazing.
I was reminded by my pastor that this encounter parallels what John wrote in John 16:8-9 says, "When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me."
Even when people see our actions; our response to the call of God on our heart, God can use that to convict those who are not yet in Christ.
Act...

Who's your boss?

This is what we discussed at the morning's chapel. Paul wrote in Colossians, that we are to do everything as if the Lord was our boss. Paul wrote to Timothy to tell him that Christian slaves were to respect their masters especially if they were believers. So what is our attitude? How is our work ethic? Who are you working for? Could it be that the way present ourselves has a profound way that non-believers see God? Absolutely... Live as if Jesus himself was signing your daily timesheet...

There's more than corn in Iowa!

Racing! Neat track. Very nice people. Safe day today! Chapel tomorrow at 9:00!

Iowa this weekend!

I will be at Iowa Speedway this weekend with the Star Mazda series. Chapel is Saturday at 9:00 am at the Star Mazda transporter. If you are at the track, stop by for the service!

Pray for a safe weekend and that Christ will be honored and glorified!

Can you pray while you drive?

Can you pray while you drive? I was asked this question as I was driving to Methodist Hospital with a family member of a driver who was injured in a scary crash at Lucas Oil Raceway last Saturday night. During that anxious moment, we did not know the condition of the driver. So as I drove, I prayed. Out loud.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to do just that; "pray continually". This does not have to be a verbal prayer, but an attitude of prayer; a constant dialogue with our heavenly Father. Lifting our thoughts and requests to Him and laying them at the feet of Jesus.

We thank God that this driver was released later that evening with no injuries. God wants to hear from you. Have you prayed today? Are you praying now. Do you pray continually?

Lucas Oil Raceway Pics!