Recovery Update

Well, it has been an interesting road to recovery... The teeth pain I was experiencing led me to an endodontist who discovered a cracked tooth! They did a root canal on the spot! So, I am trying to get over all that on top of the back pain. I have to have a crown installed next week. I am still experiencing teeth pain and not sure what is causing that. The pain has decreased, however, since the root canal. The back is coming along nicely. I see the surgeon today to remove the stitches and a general checkup. I walked a mile yesterday with no walker or cane!!! I was praising God the entire time for even the ability to walk!

We take so much for granted.... Take time today to thank your Lord and Savior for life, your health, and even the breath you breathe! Thanks for your prayers and support!

IRL Ministry in Australia

Pray for Bob Hills and Father Phil as they are making the trip to Surfers Paradise to represent the IRL Ministry for the race this weekend. Pray for safety and that during the long trip that new relationships will be established, existing ones enhanced and the Christ will be glorified in all that they do. Thanks!

Recovering after Second Surgery

I had to go back in last week to reopen the back incision to get it "cleaned out" and test for infection. After the cultures came back, they discovered I had a COAG negative staff infection. The good news is it is treatable by oral antibiotics. So, praise God for that. We were being coached to get ready for a 12 week, at home, IV antibiotic.... yikes....... I am back home and working hard on recovery... I am walking less with walker and more with just a cane....

Pray that God's healing touch will continue. Pray for my patience during the process....... I remain faithful and trusting God expectantly. I am excited about walking without pain..... soon.... Also pray for my angel wife that continues to care for me 24/7!! Thanks for your support and prayers!

"Winners Circle" Underway at Vision

The "Winners Circle" has had its first two meetings at Vision Racing! This is a study held at the shop during lunch. We are currently going through Coach Dungy's book as a basis for the study. So far, there have been good turnouts at the studies. Please pray for continued interest!

I am continuing to recover at home from my back surgery. Things are going well. I am walking a little with a goal to complete a mile by the 6 week mark! Please pray for a speedy recovery and patience, as this is usually a fairly long recovery. Thanks!

Home never felt sooo good!!!!

I am home from my surgery! I returned home Sunday (9/28) afternoon after a 5 day stay at Ortho Indy Hospital on the NW side. Dr. Riina and his staff did a great job and I thank God for gifting those those people! The hip pain and numbness in my right leg are gone! I obviously have lots of pain from the surgery, but I am excited about the other pain being gone!! Pray for patience and a quick healing process. Also pray for my wife as I will be her patient (or testing her patience) for the next few weeks. She has been great! I could ask God for anything more!

Surgery - 9/24

I would covet your prayers as I will be having a spinal fusion surgery done on Wednesday, 9/24/08. The great people at OrthoIndy will be doing the surgery, but the greater physician, our Lord God Almighty, will be overseeing the surgery. Please pray that everything would go as planned, that God would be glorified through this process, and that I may be an effective witness as I go through this journey. As always, thanks for your prayerful support!

Radio Show Features IRL Ministry

Don Kay's Autosport radio show featured the IRL Ministry during the live show last Tuesday's night at McGilvery's Pub. Check out this link for more info.............. http://www.autosportradio.com/current_show.aspx

2008 Food Totals Are In!

Throughout the season, the IRL Ministry coordinated food pick up and delivery from IRL team hospitalities to shelters local to the tracks. This food was either extra unused food or left over prepared food that would have been thrown away... The total food collected was 63,000 pounds of food!!!!! Praise God!

We also collected between 25-150 pounds of soap each week.

Miami – Community Outreach - 2500 pounds
St. Pete - St. Vincent Depaul - 9200 pounds
Kansas – Kansas City Rescue Mission - 3500 pounds
Indy – Seed of Hope and Wheeler Mission - 4500 pounds
Milwaukee - Family House of Milwaukee and St. Benedict's (www.stbensmilwaukee.org) – 3800 pounds
Texas - Meals On Wheels - 4500 pounds
Iowa - Hope Ministries (www.hopeiowa.org) – 7000 pounds
Richmond - Good Samaritan Ministries – 3500 pounds
Watkins Glen – Salvation Army - 3800 pounds
Nashville - Nashville Rescue Mission – 4500 pounds
Mid Ohio – Bulter Clearfork Nutrition Center, Crossroads Center for Change & Mt. Herman Baptist Church, Harmony House, Salvation Army, Freewill Baptist Church, Heartland Alliance Church – 2500 pounds
Edmonton – Our House - 1200 pounds
Kentucky - Heavens Helping Hands - 1500 pounds
Sonoma - The Christian Help Center in Vallejo Bread of Life Ministries in Vallejo and Casa de Vallejo this is a shelter for the homeless and City Ministries International in San Francisco that feeds the homeless on the streets of SFO - 4,000 pounds
Detroit - Detroit Rescue Mission – 5000 pounds
Chicago – Morningstar Rescue Mission – 2000 pounds

Thanks!!!

To everyone who supported me this past season......
Deatra, Tyler, Reid, Doug, Pingnan, David, Mark, Bob, Hunter, Father Phil, Chris, Sally, William, Andy, Dizmas, IRL Ministry Supporters at Indian Creek, Geoff, Zane, George, Carry, Jimmy, Sarge, Laura, Eddie, Linda, Dan, Amy, Darren, Pam, Rex, Crysty, Rose, Bryan, Henry, Doretha, Kelly & all those of you who prayed and donated!

God Bless you all!

Wow! What a season!

Awesome day today! We had Chapel services in Victory Circle this morning. God gave us an awesome day! We had Andy Schroeder and his family providing the special music. Andy is from my home church, Indian Creek Christian Church (www.thecreek.org). Special thanks to Andy! Jim Evans from Windy City Raceway Ministries (www.wcrm.net) coordinated the food pickup from Morningstar Mission in Joliet (www.morningstarmission.org). We had a great time of prayer before they took the final shipment tonight!

We had a great prayer time with the teams on the grid. I had the opportunity to prayer with some of the safety workers and officials prior to the race. I also had a chance to talk to Len today. Len is the guy who wants to convert me "the other way". I just offered to have the conversation with him at sometime and gave him one of our Racing Daily Bread books. to look over. God will take it form here or provide another opportunity at a later date.

We will have a food ministry updates soon. I will list all the donation weight and locations. Continue to pray for the upcoming study at Vision Racing. Thank you all for your prayers and support this year! Check back for regular updates!

Chicagoland Speedway

Had a good day of practice and qualifying today. I had an opportunity to talk to one of the chef's about his parents who are both suffering from cancer. He has kinda resolved that "whatever happens, happens". I told him that we can pray and it is the kind of faith that the woman that touched Jesus' cloak had when Jesus healed her. He replied that he would think about that and like that way of thinking. Neat time of sharing.......

Also had some time with the crew member who lost his son a few weeks ago. He seemed to be doing better. Please continue to pray for him and his family.

We have a few food pickup logistical problems today. Pray for those to be smoothed out tomorrow. Also pray for our services tomorrow!

God's Plan, Not Ours!

We had a good race yesterday and great Chapel services. The musicians that played for us played jazz Christian music with a piano and a sax... Pretty cool sounds.... We had Chaplain Bob Lewis from the National Guard accompanied us the past couple days. It was awesome to have him there with us. He wanted to help where ever he could. He went with us on the grid for prayer with the teams. He prayed with the Panther Racing, National Guard sponsored team. It was a neat moment!

We had good prayer time with the teams. As the season progresses, they seem to be more and more responsive. It is exiting. I had one guy tell me they wanted me to "bless the car" because ti was cursed. I had another guy approach me after they had crashed out of the race. He said, " I thought you prayed for our team." I responded gently, " sometimes God's plans are necessarily our plans." He agreed and said.... good point..

One race to go one my schedule. Chicagoland Speedway next weekend. Pray we will continue to share Christ. Pray for these crew guys as they are tired. Pray for Chaplain Lewis and all our troops. Pray to do God's plan, not ours. Pray!

Day 2 - Belle Isle

I got the musicians for Chapel all hooked up with credentials, etc. We had a safe practice and qualifying session today.

I had a few neat conversations today with team members and support staff. These relations are important to being able to share Christ with them. I pray that my work today was pleasing to God as I shared Christ's love. One of the team guys, Kevin, was notified that his baby daughter has a brain condition that causes one side of her body to function properly. Pray for him and his family as they work through this tough situation....

Detroit Belle Isle Update

Busy day today..... I met with the reps from Detroit Rescue Mission (www.drmm.org). We had a little communication mix up this weekend about the food pickup. So, we literally called these guys today to see if they were available to do the pickup Sunday night. Not only did they say yes, they were at the track within 15 minutes of my call to check out the trailer location and figure out their route into the track. Pray for this mission.... They serve over 1500 meals per day!

Ran into a couple guys from Larry's team. Larry is the crew member who lost his son last weekend. I assured they guys that we are praying for them and Larry. They are still a bit shaken, so keep praying. Please.

This street circuit made from existing streets on the island. It is fan friendly track with lots to see and do. The view of the Detroit and Canada skylines are pretty cool. It is a little tough to do credentials, shuttle people in, and get to our trailer outside the track. Pray that we get the musician logistics worked out tomorrow. This could be a challenge with limited parking, etc.

I am a bit tired. Pray for physical strength and patience working through some of the details of this weekend.... Thanks for your support! More updates tomorrow!

DIZMAS!!!!!!

What an awesome day today! What an awesome God we serve! We had 2 great, well attended Chapel services today with the special music provided by the group DIZMAS (www. dizmas.com). These guys are the real deal. They love Jesus and love to sing his praises. It was a pleasure meeting them today and hanging out a bit. This was their first ever Indy Car race, so they were lovin' every minute! Check these guys out on their website and on You Tube. Pray for these guys as they tour the world singing about Christ's love for all of us!

We had great prayer time with the teams and drivers today. The Indy Lights race was a bit rushed again, but we got to all the drivers before they took off! Most of the prayers were with the drivers in the cockpit.... God always provides a way. The Indy Car prayer time was especially special with the Dreyer Reinbold teams, as we lifted up their teammate who lost his son this week. Continue to pray for these guys....

I also had neat time in prayer with a IRL pit lane official and an ESPN reporter prior to the race. I also sent DISMAS off with a prayer before they traveled back home. We formed a circle in the pits and prayed amidst all the Indy Car engines roaring by.... The next race is Detroit. Pray for me as it will be another short week at my "day job".

God bless you all!!!!!

Sonoma Update - Saturday

Had a good Indy Lights race today. It was a bit hurried before the race, so Bob and I worked our way through the grid praying with the drivers as they were getting in their cars. I prayed with one driver walking down the grid on his way to his car, another driver as she was sitting in her car, and yet another driver as he was putting on his helmet. I had one driver that refused to pray, but all others were eager for the divine help!

We have one Indy Lights and the Indy Car race tomorrow. We have 2 chapels and 1 mass in the morning. People coming in, credentials, etc. Pray that we will stay focused on God's work, not man's. As always, God Bless you all for praying.

God's Plan

Met with the Team Jesus Motorsports (teamjesusmotorsports.net) people today. They will be coordinating the food pick up and delivery this weekend. Special thanks to their help!

We had a tragedy today with one of the Indy Car team members. He was notified this morning that his son had died overnight back in Indianapolis. Bob met with him for a little while after the notification and his team manager immediately made arrangements for him to be flown back to Indy. I drove him from the track back to his hotel and then to the airport to catch his flight. We sometimes never know why some things happen. We need to continually trust God in all situations. Keep the faith. Pray without ceasing. Know that God will never leave us or forsake us.
Pray for this team member that God will provide, heal, comfort, and be present in this difficult time.

Sunny in Sonoma

Made it safely to Sonoma. It is beautiful country that God made out here! A little more hilly that Indiana! The ministry motorcoach is not here this weekend (due to fuel prices). So we are a bit out of our element. I believe God will provide everything we need this weekend. Pray that we can focus on the people and not on "stuff". Tomorrow we are meeting with the track's Raceway Ministries that will be coordinating the food pick up and they are going to let us borrow a golf cart! Keep prayin'!

New Speakers - Thanks William!

Thanks to William Guice of the People's Church in Franklin, TN, the IRL Ministry now has new Yamaha speakers for our sound system! As you recall, William sang for us in Nashville. When we were doing his sound check, he asked what that buzzing noise was.... Well, it was our speakers! He replied, "I can take care of that!"

He showed up to sing for us again in Kentucky and had a new set of speakers complete with cords and mounting brackets! They are 300 watts of awesome sound!

Thanks again William. It is greatly appreciated! God provides!!!!

Wow.....

OK, so in all my humanness, I'm all worried about logistics of the weekend. Why do we worry about anything when we trust God.... we shouldn't.....

Had a great day in Kentucky yesterday... William Guice from the Peoples Church in Nashville drove up from Tennessee to sing for our Chapel services. We also worked with John Roberts, the track Chaplain from Kentucky Speedway, to help with their Raceway Ministries Chapel service at 9:00 AM. William also sang for their service. Those guys do a great job ministering to the fans outside the track.

Our Chapel services were well attended and went well. We had Mike Mankel and his wife Beth as guests of the ministry this weekend. Mike is the Regional Manager for KLOVE/Air1 radio. They followed me along with my son Tyler on the grid to pray with the drivers. God was present as we had great reception from most of the teams. Beth hugged me after we had finished praying, with tears in her eyes, and thanked me. She said that was better than a church service! The Holy Spirit was obviously moving in a mighty way.

I had two unique opportunities to pray with people that don't normally get the chance..... As we were making our way thru the grid, two IRL pit safety worked were preparing for the race. I offered prayer and they accepted! Also, there was a group of Firestone pit workers talking before the race. They also were open to prayer before the race!

God was moving.... God was working. I am just humbled that I am being used by God in this capacity. Trust God. Obey God.