Consider this

Over the years, I have been to literally hundreds of stock car races. At every one of them, I have been surrounded by “Expert Drivers”. You know, guys who sit there and say, “Why did he do that?” or “He should have…” (fill in the blank). In fact, I have given out my fair share of “driving advice” while sitting in the grandstands. However, after this past weekend, my attitude is completely different. Last Friday night, Estevan Motor Speedway held its first annual “Faster Pastor” race. It was a chance for church leaders to get into race cars and see what things are like from the other side of the fence and, let me tell you, it is very different. The cars are loud. The track is rough. It is hard to see anything beside you and, because you do not have a rearview mirror, you cannot see anything behind you. The track that seemed so wide before the race started suddenly seems very narrow. In other words, it is much more difficult than

The Old Testament Book called “Lamentations” is both a strange and amazing book. It is strange because, as the title suggests, it is a book of crying. Most likely written by Jeremiah (whose nickname was “The weeping prophet”), this book focuses on how bad things were for the people of God. Their enemies had overrun Jerusalem and had taken their homes, their land, their treasures and even their people. Everything that they hoped in was either destroyed or taken from them. Worst of all, they had caused this trouble themselves because they had not listened to God (Lamentations 1). Things could not be worse for God’s people and Jeremiah spends five chapters crying about their troubles. The book is also amazing because of Jeremiah’s response to all of this. Right in the middle of the book, he stops and writes, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;

On August 24 th , “Estevan Motor Speedway” is going to put preachers in race cars and let us compete against each other. They are calling it the “Faster pastor” race and I have to say that I am excited about it! I grew up going to stock car races. When I was a kid, one of my dad’s friends built a stock car in our backyard garage. This past May, my brother and I went to Charlotte , North Carolina for the “Coca Cola 600” NASCAR race. I also attend every race in Estevan that I can. The bottom line is that I am really excited about driving a car, being in the race and having some fun. Racing, however, is more than just fun. It is also a spiritual metaphor. In I Corinthians, the apostle Paul compares our life of faith to racing (albeit a foot race not a stock car race). “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into