You’re Pace Car

I used to watch NASCAR every Sunday but I stopped watching it because I realized it was my excuse to take a nap on Sunday.  My excuse isn’t what I want to write about though. If you never seen a NASCAR race your probably one of the few in this country. This writing is about:

Who is your pace car?

Some say racing is a simple sport; it’s just a matter of taking a left turn, then taking a left turn, then taking another left turn. Some think, “How hard can that be? You go around in a circle as fast as possible!”  It’s a little more….you have to have control!

Let’s talk about restrictor plates….and I’m not referring to the license plate on the back of your car.  Restrictor plates in NASCAR restrict the flow of air and fuel to the engine therefore slowing the car down. Without a restrictor plate, your racecar could go over 225 miles an hour. Ever try to take a turn at that speed?  You would lose control very quickly and it can get pretty scary when you lose control!

How about your life, do you have a restrictor plate on it?  Or are you racing out of control? There was a country song back in the 90’s that spoke of this. “I’m in a hurry to get things done; I rush and rush until life’s no fun…” This song says a lot about how we live our life. We all rush around trying to get things done, but do all these things we try to do really matter? Are you racing through quickly and you don’t know why? Do you need a restrictor plate?

We have become a society of "I want it now. “Ask someone under 30 to imagine life without a laptop, cell phone, video game, and iPod and they can’t do it. Anyone who was born in the 60's-70's... We are the last generation who played in the street. We are the 1st who played video games and the last to record songs off the radio on a cassette tape.

We learned how to program the VCR before anyone else, play from Atari to super Nintendo. We are the generation of Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny and The Flintstones. We travelled in cars without seat belts or air-bags and lived. We did not have flat screens, surround sound, iPods, Face book, Twitter, computers & the Internet...But still had a great time!

So why are we all in such a rush that life is no fun? Does your life need a speed limit? Do you need to slow down? Are you so wrapped up in the got to get there now way of life that you are speeding out of control?

When I was a kid, we used to have soap box derby races. Not the high performance derby cars of today though. Back then we had baby cart wheels, a board for a seat, string for a steering wheel and sneakers for brakes.  Helmet…….ha! Like you wish!!! One time we got into a 4 car accident racing down the hill. In my excitement to win, I hopped back onto the derby car and won the race. There was only one problem though, it wasn’t my derby car!

There are several derby cars that we have the option to ride in our lives. One called “success”; one called “anger”; one called “jealousy” and one called “wealth” (I’m sure there are a few more but you get the point). They can all throw us off but will it be the right derby car that we get back on? Just as we can’t be racing out of control, we also need to make sure that we are on the right race car. Don’t let jealousy be what propels you down the track, but rather focus on what God wants for your life. You can’t let someone cut you off because you ran out of control.

There will be those that will try to cut us off at the pass, or cause us to drive into the wall, but how we handle them will determine if we manage to finish the race or go out of control. Keep your restrictor plate on (Prayer is the best restrictor plate I know), read the owner’s manual (um…God’s Word) and keep your focus on the only car in life that will never cause you to lose control or veer off the track.

Allow Jesus to be the pace car of your life.

Hebrew 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”