Coffee With Chaplain Mike

It’s the Lord’s Day!

Did you know that if you’re a believer you have the power to forgive sins? Actually, you are even commanded to do so by Jesus. He mentioned this when He was teaching the disciples how to pray…..

“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be kept holy. May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one. If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬-‭15‬

That’s pretty serious! But you do have the power to forgive them. But what does that mean? Are you forgiving them for all the sins they have committed?

No. You are simply forgiving them for what they may have done to you. That means that the sin they committted against you won’t be remembered or charged
against them.

Steven did this very thing in the book of Acts when he was being stoned to death…..

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭7‬:‭55‬-‭60

In other words, no record will be found in heaven that those men who threw the rocks ever did so. The rest of their sins committed throughout their life will still be judged however.

Jesus did this as well when forgiving the soldiers, the Pharisees, and even Pilate in my opinion, who crucified Him…..

“Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with Him. When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed Him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on His right and one on His left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for His clothes by throwing dice.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭23‬:‭32‬-‭34‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Were they forgiven of other sins as well? No I don’t believe so. Only the sin of murdering Jesus. Which HAD to be done so that God’s plan of salvation for all mankind could be carried out. It was necessary that Judas betray Him. If was necessary that He be beaten for our reconciliation. It was necessary that He die. But He forgave those who killed Him!

So, if someone has hurt you, or stolen from you, or cheated on you, or wronged you in some other way, be the bigger person and forgive them. To paraphrase an old saying…..

“Unforgiveness is the poison you give others to drink which ultimately kills you instead.”

You must let them go free. Don’t let that sin be on their record. Forgiving them is showing them mercy that perhaps they don’t deserve, but you have been shown mercy you don’t deserve as well.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of a King who was owed millions of dollars by a servant. When the King threatened the servant, he asked for mercy and the King forgave him. Then that same servant went to a man who owed him a few thousand dollars, and that man begged for mercy too. But the arrogant servant had this man put in prison. When the King learned of this evil done by the servant he’d forgiven, he had him thrown in prison as well.

There’s a powerful lesson for us in that parable. Jesus said the same would happen to us if we don’t forgive others…..

“Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That’s what My heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭34‬-‭35‬

This parable came about because Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive someone…..

“Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭21‬-‭22‬

So, let people go folks. Don’t hold them in the prison of unforgiveness in your heart. You’re really only hurting yourself, not them.

“Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬

There is much anger in the world. America may be on the precipice of great destruction, and we need a true Revival of hearts turned to God. But that will NEVER happen without forgiveness being offered to those who need it. Mercy triumphs over judgement!

“There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you.”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬

People need mercy. You have mercy to offer! Love one another! It’s a command!

It’s the Lord’s Day!

People ask me questions now and then about my life decisions that I will usually answer easily and without hesitation.

For example, because I was a former Pastor they’ll ask, “Why don’t you start a church?”

The straight up answer?
Because God didn’t tell me to.

Concerning Beth and me, others will ask “Why don’t y’all get married?
Because God didn’t tell either of us to yet.

Stop and think of how many people you know who are now divorced, who perhaps didn’t ask God if they should have married their ex in the first place. Or they took the wrong job, or they moved to the wrong town. Or they made any other decisions without consulting the Lord first, and then paid the price.

Forward we march though.

I continue to write this weekly Sunday post because God hasn’t told me to stop.

I bought the truck I drive now because God said this was the one to buy. I was actually looking at a Cadillac XTS, with leather and all the bells and whistles, for about the same money. I had a hefty down payment and had already been approved. But I ultimately knew through seeking Him and praying that it was the Chevy Colorado I have now that I was to buy, and from a different dealer as well. I had the seats upholstered in leather, and two years and 20,000 miles later I’m still loving it!

I was in a lengthy relationship in the nineties and there was pressure from her and others for me to get married to her, including my Pastor at the time and my Dad. But God never said to. She eventually stopped loving me, (her words were “Something inside me just died”). We broke up, and she is happily married to someone else. I think she just wanted to be married, honestly. Do I regret I didn’t marry her? Not at all. I wouldn’t have met Beth if I weren’t single then.

Many of you that know me have heard me say that I intend to go racing again. Went to Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School to sharpen up rusty skills and to learn from the master a couple of years ago. I’m still not racing. Oh, you know noticed that too huh? God, for whatever reason, hasn’t given me the green light to do just that (no pun intended). I’ll race if He says, I won’t if He doesn’t. It’s that simple.

As I write this, I’m watching “the Million” in St. Louis live on YouTube. Yes, they are literally racing for a Million dollars to win. Many that are racing are friends of mine, and watching these guys with their triple zero reaction times and runs just a thousands of a second over their dial-in makes me I’m glad I’m not there. Not to mention the 750 plus total entries (with buybacks that’s 13 people you’d have to beat just to be in the final), the $2,000 entry fee, plus fuel and entry fees for the other races going on the same weekend, makes me glad as well.

I started a weekly Bible study in my home back in the mid eighties. It was heavily advertised by me, and the first Tuesday night my Dad came, and that was it! Why? Because God really wasn’t in it. I got ahead of the Lord. I don’t know if I ever even prayed about it. I just ran out there and did it. He never prompted me to do it, and it fell flat, and I closed it down after just two or three weeks.

If you’re thinking of starting a ministry and it’s not something that God has specifically directed you to do, then be forewarned that it probably won’t succeed if it wasn’t His idea. And if you happen to be blessed financially going down your own path, maybe it wasn’t God who has been doing the blessing. This world is Satan’s dominion, by the way. Look at how many multi-million dollar TV evangelists there are, who are false prophets and false teachers to a large degree. Where does that money come from? It comes from sheep who have been fleeced! More about that another time.

But as for starting your own ministry….as someone once said, “Don’t try to get God to be in the middle of what YOU are doing, get yourself in the middle of what GOD is doing!”

Do you have some big decisions to make? Seek God for the answer. Seek Him for His will. Seek Him for His direction He wants you to take.

No, I’m not saying that you should ask Him which restaurant to eat at. But did you ever pull into a parking lot of a restaurant and get a check in your spirit? Maybe the Holy Spirit was warning you.

At any rate, if you are a committed follower of Jesus and have given Him control of your life, then certainly seek Him and let Him REALLY LEAD, if you indeed are following Him!

I can pretty much promise you that if you DON’T seek God for wisdom and answers you need, you’re going to have some decisions you made that you’ll regret. Not all, but some.

Trust Him. He only wants what is best for you, and He has plans and blessings for you that you might miss out on! This is a very simple concept and a stable way to live your life; to only do what God tells you to do when it comes to life changing decisions! Let peace rule your decision making. Only the Lord can give you peace. No peace, no move!

“Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is His name, ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you and even show you great and mighty things, things which have been confined and hidden, which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭33‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭Amp

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭8

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭27‬

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭6‬-‭7‬

It’s the Lord’s Day!

As you well know by now if you follow me, I believe in the rapture. But as for WHY I believe whole heartedly in the rapture, I’ll use Jesus’ own words today to explain my belief! I’ve written before about the timing, but I am confident there WILL be a rapture.

I personally believe in a Mid-Trib rapture but I’ll not explain why now for the sake of time. You can read my post from November 30th, of 2025 if you need to see why I believe as I do.

That said, most people who believe in the rapture will quote Paul’s writing in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4 as the basis for their belief. Or they may use 1st Corinthians chapter 15. But did you know there is a scripture that leaves NO doubt at all that there is a rapture, and that it’s Jesus Himself telling you? This should end the debate once and for all. How can you argue with the Lord Himself??

Observe…..

“Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe confidently in God and trust in Him, have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭Amp

Wait, what? What did He say?

“I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also.”

Here is the same verse in the New Living Translation…..

“When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬

That can’t possibly be the Second Coming He is talking about, because in the Second Coming He comes back to the earth to do battle against the antichrist and Satan. And the Saints, including the disciples, are with Him when He comes. He then sets up His Kingdom on earth, so at the Second Coming we’re clearly not going to go back to Heaven to live with Him there.

But in John 14:3, He is coming back to gather the disciples to Himself, to be with Him in Heaven where He is now! And that includes US who are saved.

He repeats Himself in verse 28 of that same chapter……

“You heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you really loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going back to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭28‬ ‭Amp

Where was He going that He would come back? Heaven, where the Father is!

Again, He was talking to the disciples and He said He would COME BACK AGAIN AND GET THEM so they could be where He is! So where is He?

Heaven!!

You might argue “Pastor Mike, we will already be in heaven when we die because Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

Yes he did. But that’s just your spirit. But Paul also said the dead in Christ will rise first. That’s your bodies reunited with the spirit. So yes, Jesus will come and get the dead when He comes in the clouds, then any who are alive will rise too.

For clarity, He doesn’t come and get anyone when they die. They go to Him. Jesus is clearly talking about the RAPTURE when He says He will come and get them. Again, the dead in Christ rise first, which would be the disciples He was talking to that day. Then we, if we are alive, will go to be with Him as well.

In John 14:3, Jesus is describing the Rapture some 18 years before Paul wrote about it. And wouldn’t you think He would know all the details since He and the Father planned it all out before the Foundation of the world?

Insert mic drop, cue the exit music and turn off the house lights, because the argument for whether or not there is a rapture is over! Jesus Himself said it would happen!

It’s the Lord’s Day!

In the third chapter of the book of Zechariah there is an exchange between an angel of the Lord and someone by the name of Joshua, and he is standing before him in filthy rags. Let’s take a peek inside this exchange…..

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log snatched from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and was standing before the angel.”
Zechariah‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭3

Then the angel of the Lord orders the other angels to remove his filthy rags and clothe him with rich robes and a clean turban. He then tells Joshua that the Lord of the armies has removed all of his sins and guilt, and that if he will faithfully obey the Lord and walk in His commands, that he will also govern God’s house and have charge of His courts. Then the angel of the Lord says that God is sending Jesus His Branch, and Jesus will remove all of his guilt in one day.

Now Joshua is symbolic and wasn’t actually a real person in that chapter, but was representing sinful Israel. But here is why that story is important to us…..

God said He will remove their wickedness and guilt in one day. That’s OUR guilt too. He did that for we Gentiles as well. In one day!

While carrying all of the sins of the entire world, Jesus’ death on the cross removed ALL our sins in ONE DAY!

FOREVER!

Your sins and mine were forgiven that day almost 2,000 years ago in that moment on that cross! Nothing else needed to be done! EVERYONE’S sins were paid for then on that day when Jesus died, as darkness covered the land.

BUT, we must believe and acknowledge that fact and receive it for ourselves or that forgiveness doesn’t apply to us. That’s why we say you must accept Christ and His finished work on the cross for yourself and live for Him, or you will still be punished for your sins and be sent to Hell. But the work of forgiveness was already done that day for everyone in the world.

Think of it this way; let’s say that Jesus has a gift for every person in the world stored in a warehouse, but each person must go to that warehouse, meet Jesus, and pick up their gift. It’s not theirs till they receive it. That’s how salvation works. You must RECEIVE the gift already promised to you.

And He really DOES have a free gift awaiting you, and it’s eternal life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬

How can people turn that free gift down? But they do.

Or, think of salvation in this way.

Let’s imagine there is a retirement village that has been built somewhere. Every single house in that village has already been constructed. Each spacious house is award-winning in design, and is beautifully crafted and fully decorated with lavish furnishings and accessories. And the best part is this; every single house is free, and will cost their new owners nothing! But Jesus has the keys and titles to each house. So you must see Him first, and then the house will be deeded over to you free of charge, and you’ll be given the keys and can move in.

That’s salvation and it’s actually true! You really do have a home awaiting you in Heaven free of charge, but the ONLY way to get there, and to eternally live there, is through Jesus. Only by asking Him to forgive you of your sins and obediently living for Him afterwards can you even be allowed entrance.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the only Way to God and the real Truth and the real Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭Amp

You can only get there through Jesus! When Jesus was on the cross He said “It is finished” as He died. God’s plan of salvation was complete! Nothing else is to be done on God’s part. The rest is up to you!

You MUST accept this plan for yourself, then you will be granted eternal life! Don’t turn it down! You simply cannot inherit eternal life in Heaven without going through Jesus!

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved, for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ ‭Amp

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭4‬:‭8‬

“Therefore, since we have been justified, that is, acquitted of sin, declared blameless before God by faith, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God and the joy of reconciliation with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬ ‭Amp

All the necessary work was done by Jesus almost 2,000 years ago. Become a follower and servant of Jesus and step into eternal life, and a life filled with love you never imagined you could know.

It’s the Lord’s Day!

Confession time. Yes it’s long, but maybe I’m not the only one struggling with this.

Anyway, I need to deal with this publicly because it’s bothered me my entire Christian life, and I’ll confess it here in the hope that it will help someone else. This is real life, and real life is at best tough when you purpose in your heart to live for Jesus and follow Him with all your heart. Confessing your sins is biblical and healthy, usually.

I have been plagued by certain verses in scripture for years and years. It has brought me guilt. It has brought me soul searching. It has caused me grief. The Holy Spirit has brought these verses to my attention often. I have dealt with it, and fairly poorly I might add. Here are the verses……

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭17‬

Verse 16 is the real problem; “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world”.

Let’s break this down. That verse is not just talking about the “big sins” like sexual sins or drinking or gambling. Those sins that everyone publicly shames you for committing. No, it’s speaking of you pursuing anything the world has to offer to the point where it controls your life and it takes precedence over your time, your money, and your relationship with God. It could be having the largest and nicest home of all your friends. For me it has been drag racing. Racing has been a struggle for me to sort out spiritually, and just cars in general, all my life.

For me, the lust of the flesh is filling your life with cars in every possible way. Whatever the flesh wants it gets. The lust of the eyes is seeing a car and wanting it, so that others may see you in it. The boastful pride of life is buying that car and showing it off, being filled with pride. Read the 16th verse again. It is describing lusting over something with your eyes to the point you desire it, and you will do what it takes to have it, and being boastfully proud when you do have it.

It is no secret to any one of my friends that I love racing. I went to my first drag race when I was 12 at Lakeland International Raceway. I went down that track in a friend’s Barracuda before I even had my license, probably a 15 second car. It was a five amber tree to give you an idea of how long ago that was. It took so long in my mind to count down that I red lighted my very first time on the tree.

Racing consumed me from the start. Drawing cars (I still do). Building models. Day dreaming in class. When I was finally old enough to race legally, it was non-stop devouring all I could about the sport and doing all my budget would allow, from street racing to building engines to spending every extra penny and some not so extra pennies to make a race. Gone every Saturday night and some Sundays, leaving the kids at home with the wife during race season was normal. I’ve had somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 different racecars, none all that glamorous, and some nice street cars including two different Trans Ams. I won money, trophies, and even a Track Championship in drag racing. I even made a living at it managing different racetracks, including Memphis Motorsports Park. But I had been saved at 19 years old and so I dealt with the lust/pride thing the entire time I raced.

And to this day I am still involved, crewing for a friend’s blown alcohol ‘35 Chevy altered, and we race out of town at least 4 or 5 times a year.

I made a drag racing video for NMCA (1988), have written racing magazine articles, was part of two separate 1 hour long racing shows on WMPS 680 and WREG 630 AM radio for over a year, had a short lived TV show, and have announced at dozens of the larger tracks around the country over the last several decades, including Indy, Bowling Green, Muncie, National Trail in Columbus, Texas Motorplex, Norwalk, and a host of others. Trust me, I wasn’t famous at all, just pursuing the sport I loved.

But that was a problem. A huge problem, because it made me guilty of loving the world, having a lot of pride, lusting after cars, and being involved in idol worship of those cars. A ’69 SS396 Chevelle would readily fit in that category. My knees get weak and I drool if I see that car! Same with early GTO’s, Vettes, Road Runners etc. And if any cars have the 4 speed Muncie M22 rock crushers, then all the better, as they were found in most all of GM’s platform of high performance vehicles in the late sixties/early seventies and they had that unmistakable tr**ny whine!
Raced two 4 speed cars over the years, and they can be consistent and win, if you can drive.

Derek Bieri, of Vice Grip Garage fame, has a beautiful blue big block ‘71 Chevelle named Liberty that I would sell my children to obtain if I could. And that violates every part of those verses above. I have seen every episode of VGG I’m certain, and I’ve entered every giveaway to no avail, and it’s always causing me grief wanting so many of his cars. But that gorgeous blue Shovel; my, my, my! It’s too shiny for him, so if I had it I’d be doing him a big favor Lord!😁 See what I mean?

But God doesn’t play and He is a jealous God.

“Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”?”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭5‬

He wants my total devotion and obedience. He wants me to NOT love the world.

Dear Lord, what shall I do??

I suppose it’s why I don’t have a show car. It would be totally about pride and that is in direct opposition to the word.

If I’m in traffic and I hear a heavily cammed car I’m straining my neck to see where it is. That’s the lust of the flesh and coveting if I wish I had it. I had one of my best friends do a custom paint job on my Harley Fatboy. That’s pride, pure and simple. I also had cams put in the bike. That’s pride too, hoping others would love the sound as much as me. Lord help!

I’m confessing all this to tell you I struggle and I pray and I repent, yet I don’t have an answer. But I also want to warn you that if you’re in the car culture, check your heart and see how it stands against the verses above. And it doesn’t have to be cars. Maybe it’s water sports, tractor pulling, music, fishing, hunting; ANYTHING that becomes a lust and pride situation. If you’re doing something better than others can, you mustn’t let pride enter in.

He must be first in your life regardless.

We all will stand before God and answer for our lives. I am so thankful there is mercy.

No, I’m not going to hell, nor are you if you struggle as I do but are saved. All my sins and yours are under the blood and I’m in no danger of losing my salvation over cars, simply because it’s Jesus’ finished work on the cross that bought my salvation, not how I live my life. But there is reward for obedience and loss of reward too, and that has me worried! And John said if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you! That’s a VERY scary thought!

I’m at the feet of Jesus a lot asking for His help, and He knows my heart and understands my battles.

I did totally walk away from racing in 1992. Didn’t watch TV or attend a race or buy a magazine or have anything to do with racing for a few years. I was burned out. I had managed Memphis from ‘89 to the spring of ‘91 then Jackson Dragway for their ‘91 racing season. There were several factors in play, but I was done.

It seemed like racers were never happy and were always in my face complaining about something. I dealt with crazy long hours and you seldom got a weekend off after working all week at track prep, mowing, painting, marketing, booking specialty cars, scheduling races, managing 20 plus employees for a race, and making sure they were on time and that their equipment worked. Then there were four and five day races like the Nationals, and track rentals, including Indy cars, that were year round. I was tired of it all and I was going through a divorce (my fault). I was traveling and never home, and just being “over it” in general pushed me to a point where I walked away. That was the only time in my life I wasn’t operating with the boastful pride of life and the lust of the flesh concerning cars. I hit bottom during that time. This was before my surrender to the call of God on my life. I was driving a very hooptie Toyota Corolla wagon then that my kids were ashamed to be seen in! It was a hideous yellow with fake wood grain and it was horrendous. My daughter Michelle was 12 then and made me park at the end of the driveway at school and she would wait till most of the kids were gone before walking toward it. Quite different from her being picked up in my shiny red rumbly gnarly ‘66 Chevy truck I had built, but sold in ‘93. As a matter of fact, my last race at Memphis was runner-up in Footbrake in that truck on a red light against Ed Hawes.

Was I happy when I left racing? Not really. I started going back to tracks in 1998 I think, and then began announcing again. And aside from attending Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in 2022, and running quicker than I ever had in his dragster, I haven’t driven a race car in years, but the desire is still there.

I don’t know if I’ll ever see a change in me, but God knows I’m trying after 60 plus years.

There’s my confession. If you struggle too, with ANYTHING, then we’re in this together and we serve a God of mercy. It’s our only hope!

And please understand, I’m not asking you to give up your show cars, or drag cars, or racing, or whatever it is your hobbies are. Just be sure of where the weight of your love is placed. Make sure who gets the major portion of your love and devotion. Make sure there’s no lust. Let your heart be filled to overflowing with HIM! Everything else will be destroyed in time anyway.

I will say this though. If you make your living from cars and if you’re using God given skills to support yourself and your family that’s different and necessary. God placed those desires in you so that you could take care of your family. I made over $46k in 1990 managing a track and the Lord definitely did that and granted me favor with job! I thank Him for opening that door. That’s around $115k in today’s money. But if He has given you the talent, you still have to be careful and not let pride ever slip in. I was pretty proud in those days, thinking I did that on my own, but it was totally God! Stay focused so that no lust comes into play!

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with His angels in the glory of His Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭24‬-‭27‬

“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral persons, the murderers, the IDOLATERS, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭12‬-‭15‬

Stay humble folks! And love God with all that’s within you, no matter what you love in this world.