Never gonna win !!!

Ok, I'll admit it.  I'm an unabashed rabid fan of NASCAR.  I have been blessed to have been able to go to more races than I can count.  On one occasion I was able to stay the entire duration of a race in the pit box of one of the most well known racers...right there down and dirty with the crew chief and the pit crew.  Another time I had free access to everything in the infield....inspection area, garages, over the fence in pit row...the whole smear.....because I had been able to have NBC press credentials that year through the good graces of a friend of a friend.  And because of that, I was able to stand and talk with quite a few of the drivers before the race.  One was Michael Waltrip.

By the time that occurred, Michael had won his first race.  He won the Daytona 500, the kick off race of the season, in 2001.  That race was his 443rd race in NASCAR, and it was his first win.  When you consider that there are only 36 races in a season, that computes to his having raced for over 12 years before he got his first win.  Does that tell you anything?  It tells me that he never gave up trying !

I think many of us struggle with trying to live the life of a Christ-follower.  I know I sure do.  It's not always easy....in fact, at times it is a downright challenge to even get close.  We face obstacles from both within and without as the evil one tries to throw up roadblocks to stop our progress.  We make bad choices that lead us off track.  And we allow fear to have an impact on us because we don't know what surprises might pop up right around the turn.  In a nut shell, WE are trying to control the outcomes instead of relying on and trusting God as we know we should.  There are times when we just want to give up.

Here's the deal.  Michael Waltrip was never gonna win.....if he gave up !  His goal for every one of those 443 races he ran was to win each one.  He wasn't out there just to drive a fast car around the track each race, any more than he was out there to fill the field of 43 cars.  We are not out here in our world just to occupy space and time either !  No matter what our spiritual condition at any given point in time, our ultimate goal is to end up in heaven when we pass.  That is our race.  That is our goal.  And we are never gonna win it if we don't keep on trying to keep our focus on that goal...no matter what comes our way nor whenever it happens.