That’s Racing; That’s Life
There is a secret about me few of you probably know. I am a major fan of NASCAR.
Several years ago I had the pleasure of going to a NASCAR race at Talladega. Thanks to bad weather on Sunday, the race was postponed until Monday; which afforded me the opportunity of attending the race. Since then, I have been hooked.
I am also hooked on NASCAR because a few years later I actually drove in the Richard Petty Experience at Talladega. My 8–lap average speed of 166.5 MPH was an adrenaline rush I will always remember. For those of you who have heard that story, you are now grimacing because you think I am about to recount that experience. You can take a deep sigh of relief; I will reserve that happening for another blog.
NASCAR drivers have nerves of steel. Unless you have experienced a race first hand it is impossible to imagine what it takes to drive a car at 199 MPH, three abreast, with 40 competitors, around a 1.5 mile track for 500 miles. NASCAR drivers may not look like it, but I think they are incredible athletes.
Did you watch yesterday’s race? In between naps, I watched Brian Vickers crash his teammate Jimmie Johnson into Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the backstretch for Vickers' first career Cup win. Of course the Earnhardt-favored crowd erupted with mocking, heckling and booing. Minutes after the race concluded, a television reporter stuck a microphone in Dale’s face. What would he say? Would he erupt with a tirade of expletives? Would he sneer at the camera and say, “No comment.”? What would be his reaction?
Dale surprised me. Dale said, “That’s racing!”
Dale Jr. was not the only racer to make such a statement. Many others recapped their thoughts on the race and the last-lap accident by saying much the same thing.
“That’s racing!”
I like that response. It is an admission that racing has its hazards, and that losing on the last lap due to some reckless driving can be a consequence of the sport.
I think the same can be said of life. There are times in life when something unfair or unfavorable happens. Without sounding too fatalistic, we should learn to say, “That’s life.”
There is nothing easy to living, just like there is nothing easy to racing. When life hands us something beyond our control, we should learn to take it in stride and move on. That is what it sounded like Dale and the other racers were doing yesterday. Besides, as believers and followers of Jesus Christ we have one more advantage to admitting to the dangers of life. Paul worded our advantage this way, when he said:
Several years ago I had the pleasure of going to a NASCAR race at Talladega. Thanks to bad weather on Sunday, the race was postponed until Monday; which afforded me the opportunity of attending the race. Since then, I have been hooked.
I am also hooked on NASCAR because a few years later I actually drove in the Richard Petty Experience at Talladega. My 8–lap average speed of 166.5 MPH was an adrenaline rush I will always remember. For those of you who have heard that story, you are now grimacing because you think I am about to recount that experience. You can take a deep sigh of relief; I will reserve that happening for another blog.
NASCAR drivers have nerves of steel. Unless you have experienced a race first hand it is impossible to imagine what it takes to drive a car at 199 MPH, three abreast, with 40 competitors, around a 1.5 mile track for 500 miles. NASCAR drivers may not look like it, but I think they are incredible athletes.
Did you watch yesterday’s race? In between naps, I watched Brian Vickers crash his teammate Jimmie Johnson into Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the backstretch for Vickers' first career Cup win. Of course the Earnhardt-favored crowd erupted with mocking, heckling and booing. Minutes after the race concluded, a television reporter stuck a microphone in Dale’s face. What would he say? Would he erupt with a tirade of expletives? Would he sneer at the camera and say, “No comment.”? What would be his reaction?
Dale surprised me. Dale said, “That’s racing!”
Dale Jr. was not the only racer to make such a statement. Many others recapped their thoughts on the race and the last-lap accident by saying much the same thing.
“That’s racing!”
I like that response. It is an admission that racing has its hazards, and that losing on the last lap due to some reckless driving can be a consequence of the sport.
I think the same can be said of life. There are times in life when something unfair or unfavorable happens. Without sounding too fatalistic, we should learn to say, “That’s life.”
There is nothing easy to living, just like there is nothing easy to racing. When life hands us something beyond our control, we should learn to take it in stride and move on. That is what it sounded like Dale and the other racers were doing yesterday. Besides, as believers and followers of Jesus Christ we have one more advantage to admitting to the dangers of life. Paul worded our advantage this way, when he said:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:34-39
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