Jesus Pizza

There were layoffs at Vision Racing over the past couple weeks. This affected many people in the organization including a few guys in our weekly Bible study. I received a call from one of the guys at the shop and he told me that the remaining guys in the study really wanted to keep it going although the numbers may be down a bit. I agreed that even if one person shows up we will keep it going!!!

When I asked if we should formally "re-invite" everyone else in the shop, he told me they know the day, time, and location in the shop where we have the study. They call it "Jesus Pizza"!!! So they refer to us guys in the conference room has having pizza with Jesus!! That is sooo awesome! Take a stand for Christ!

Homestead Pics!

Below are a few pics from the Homestead race! Thanks for all your prayerful support!

Miami Homestead Update!!!

The last race of the season always brings a wave of different emotions for everyone. Some are worried about a championship, some are worried about finishing the race, some are worried about their jobs in the off season, and some are even worried about getting paid at all. This weekend there were many conversations that ran the gamut. I had a father asking for prayer for his son that needed brain surgery, a crew member worried about his mother's immanent death, a crew chief wanting prayer for his decisions, a team wanting a sponsor to keep the doors open, and God being praised for His protection and blessings.

Most Indy Lights drivers were receptive to prayer before yesterday's race. Some of the Indy Car teams I prayed with today expressed their sincere appreciation that we pray with them before their races. Some still walked away. The food this weekend was donated to the Miami Community Outreach - stay tuned for year end totals!

I saw the IRL photographer for the first time since I took him to the airport in Richmond, Va. when his mother was taken to a hospital in Indiana. He immediately stood up and gave me a huge hug. He was able to spend a few hours with his mother before she passed. He was extremely grateful for the coordination efforts and prayerful support he received from the IRL Ministry that weekend. We sometimes don't always see how God works in all situations. Today, I saw firsthand how God worked in this man's life that day.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! Keep checking the blog for year end pics and food totals! God bless you all!

Homestead This Weekend!

Heading to Florida this Thursday for the last race of the year! We have an Indy Lights Chapel on Friday and two Chapel services and a mass on Saturday!

Pray that when people see us that they will see Christ in us! Thanks for your prayers and support!

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!

In Kentucky - Pray for Chris!

I am in Kentucky and getting ready to head to the track in a little bit. This is a Saturday night race so they will be practicing at night as well. Pray for safe practice and qualifying sessions today!

Also pray for Chris at Vision Racing. Chris went down in the shop last week with heart failure. They were able to revive him and took him to CCU at St. Vincents. When I saw him last Saturday, he was on ventilators and feeding tubes and not breathing on his own. Yesterday, when I stopped by, he was talking to me and joking around! Praise God! I had a neat time of conversation and prayer with his family. We all held hands around his bed yesterday and gave God the thanks and glory!

Give God the thanks and glory today!

My next race will be Kentucky!!!!

Pray for Bob and Hunter as they travel to Edmonton this weekend to provide coverage for that race. Pray for safe travels and that they will be effective witnesses for Christ! August will be busy with 4 races in 5 weekends! Look for updates from the track!!! God is good! Stay faithful!

The Concept of Divine Control

Oswald Chambers wrote in his July 16th devotional "My Utmost for His Highest",

"Fill your mind with the thought that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, "My heavenly Father knows all about this!" This will be no effort at all, but will be a natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry? Jesus said there are times when God cannot lift the darkness from you, but you should trust Him."

Are you giving control to God? Are you trusting Him in times of trials? Does your faith grow or fade when you are faced with difficulties? Let God control your life. He loves you more than you know. Yield, trust, have faith.

Quick Trip to Canada...... Trust. Follow. Obey.

I went to Toronto Friday morning and had a full afternoon of practice, hanging chapel flyers, talking with the guys, and going through logistics for the weekend with Bob. I got a call from my wife that she was complaining of stomach pains and was going to the ER to get it checked out....... By 11:00PM, they had done a CT scan and discovered a what they thought to be a ruptured appendix. They talked about surgery the next day and started her on antibiotics. By 1:00AM, I had made arrangements to fly home the next morning. At 4:00AM, my wake up call came to get me to the airport for my early morning flight. In the meantime, the doctors thought surgery on this would be too risky due to the possible infection. They scheduled to put in a drain to remove the infection over the next week. At 2:00 PM Saturday, they started that procedure...... They found no infection. The fluid was clear! Praise God! Prayers answered! After the exploratory procedure, they want to wait until Monday to do another CT scan. Could still be an appendix issue or an ovarian cyst. We will wait and see.....

So....... where are your priorities? You are in a different country trying to do work for the Lord and your wife gets admitted to the hospital. I couldn't have pictured myself staying at the track while she was lying in that bed, but there was something nagging at me. There was a weird battle inside between the cost of returning, walking away from my commitments that weekend, and tossing all the plans that had been laid out for the weekend. No doubt, I did the right thing. I did what God wanted me to do. But what about those other pulls; maybe even temptations.

Every situation is a trial. Every trial is a refining moment from God. I have felt the refining fire a lot from God recently. I have learned from every situation. I have cried. I have felt injustice. I have felt that I have failed God at times and let Him down. Yet I never lost hope and His faith never wavered.

Are you learning what God is teaching you? Have you remained faithful, even in times of trials? God will never leave us. These "moments" are preordained by God Himself.

Trust. Follow. Obey.

Happy 4th!!

The Richmond race went well. Praise the Lord for a safe race and safe travels! Pics to come!

Deatra and I are heading to Michigan for our yearly 4th retreat, so I will not be at the race in Watkins Glen this weekend. Please pray for the Chapels and race. There is also going to be a Q&A with Al Unser Jr. and Helio on Friday. This is going to be done in the garage area with the intent to give them a venue to publicly share their faith! Please pray that will be well received!

My next race will be Toronto the weekend of 7/11-12. Thanks for all your support!

Praise God for your freedom this weekend! God is so good........

Dan, Reid, Carrington, and God

One of our IRL staff was notified that his mother was taken to a hospital back in Indiana today and put into ICU for a heart issue. After Bob worked out flight issues I took him to the airport to catch his flight back to Indiana. His name is Dan. I had an opportunity to talk to him and encourage him on our trip to the hospital. He and his mother are Christians. I also had the opportunity to pray with him before we parted company. Pray for him and his mother during this difficult time.

We had a good day of practice and qualifying with only one minor incident. My son Reid had a great time with his first pit access since he is now 18...... He even had the opportunity to be in the flag stand for Silver Crown qualifying.... He was a great help today!

I met with Carrington from Good Samaritan Ministries here in Richmond (www.goodsamaritanministry.com). They are taking the food this race for their shelter. Pray that God will use this food to show the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ to these men and women.

Our Chapel services are at 1:15 and 4:15 tomorrow. Pray for the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit during these worship times.

Thanks for your prayers!

In Richmond!!!

After a cancelled flight and the favor of the Almighty God on a standby ticket for the next flight, Reid and I made it to Richmond! Did a few small things today and reconnected with Bob a bit.

Pray that we will be effective witnesses as we interact with the IRL community this weekend!

Headin' to Richmond!

I leave Thursday morning (6/25/09) for Richmond. Please pray for safe travels and the Holy Spirit will be lead and guide our every thought, word, and action!

Thanks for your continued support!

Come to Jesus

I did not go to the Texas race (it was not in the original budget for the year and I was scheduled to go to the Iowa race until 6/11/09. That was the day my wife's mother, Doretha Huffman, went to be with the Lord. Please pray for my wife and her father and brothers as they grieve the loss of this dear woman of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28. He said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Doretha’s faith in Jesus Christ was consistent and non-negotiable. She did not like sin. She served Christ without wanting any human reward or recognition. As is says in Matthew 11:28, Doretha obeyed Jesus’ command. All her life, she came to Jesus………….. Recently, she was weary and burdened.

Oswald Chambers wrote:

“Come to Me….” Where sin and sorrow stops, and the song of the saint starts. Do I really want to get there? I can right now. The questions that truly matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words – “Come to Me.” Our Lord’s words are not, “do this, or don’t do that,” but – “Come to Me.” If we simply come to Jesus, my real life will actually cease from sin, and find the song of the Lord beginning in my life.

Have you ever come to Jesus? Look at the stubbornness of your heart. You would rather do anything than this one simple childlike thing – “Come to Me.” If you really want to experience ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.

Jesus Christ makes Himself the test to determine your genuineness. Look how He used the word come. At the most unexpected moments in your life there is this whisper of the Lord – “Come to Me,” and you are immediately drawn to Him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything. Be “foolish” enough to come and commit yourself to what He says. The attitude necessary for you to come to Him is one where your will has made the determination to let go of everything and deliberately commit it all to Him.

After a day of loosing his wife, making funeral arrangements, and visiting cemeteries, Henry (her husband) and I embraced at the end of the day and he looked me in the eye and said, “Praise the Lord”. I replied, “yes Henry, praise the Lord”………. What an example of a selfless attitude.

While this selfless attitude was admirable, how could he say that after loosing his wife of 62 years? What was he thinking? Where was the sorrow? Where was the sadness? Friends, the grief was there, but it was replaced by the overwhelming joy of knowing that she is home in heaven with Jesus and their son Timmy, and that someday, he will join them in there.

I will miss her dearly. She loved me as a mother. She respected me as the husband of her daughter. Her generosity overwhelmed me. Her heart to serve the Lord encouraged me. Her selfless pride convicted me.

Do you have that overwhelming joy that Henry has? Can you say “Praise the Lord?” Doretha went to Jesus. Is it time for you to come to Jesus?