Skip to main content

What I learned from the Enduro

                 Thanks to some nice people who bought and built a car for me, I got to drive in this year’s Enduro race at the Estevan Motor Speedway.  What is an Enduro, you ask?  Basically, you take an old street car, remove the windows, move the gas tank and race for 150 laps or an hour and a half, whichever comes first.
                As the race began, I was feeling good.  I passed a lot of cars and thought that I might even have a chance to win.  Then it happened.  Coming off corner two, the car suddenly lost power.  It was still running.  I still had the gas pedal mashed to the floor, but it was slowing down.  Then I looked at the temperature gauge and noticed that it was right at the top.  The car was overheating. 
In order to keep speeds down a bit, the track is heavily watered and very muddy, so I assumed that my radiator was clogged with mud.  I pulled into the infield and asked one of the track workers to have a look and he said, “It is completely clean”. 
Turns out, the car was overheating simply because it was working too hard.   It was not designed to run at full throttle while plowing through deep, sticky mud.  After the engine cooled off, it started running better and I was back in the race (Until I totalled the car off on lap 40, but that is another article for another time).
Sometimes I feel like that overheating enduro car.  When I fill my calendar with too much work and too little rest, it catches up to me.  Doing as much as we can as fast as we can may seem like a good idea, but it is counter-productive.  We were not designed to live at a full throttle.   If we are going to survive and hang in there for the long haul, we need to learn to slow down and relax once in a while.  More than that, we need to know that God is in control and trust him to look after us.    
You have a choice:  You can go fast, or you can go far.  You likely cannot do both.
“Be still and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more