Quiet Ministry is Shared to Half-Million Fans of Junior

This picture is of the most touching stories to come out of this past week's deluge of stories about Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win at the Daytona 500 in 2014.

Stevie Waltrip, wife of famed NASCAR driver and FOX announcer Darrell Waltrip, has a quiet ministry to encourage Dale Earnhardt Junior.  She writes out a Bible verse for Junior to place in his race car for encouragement.

Stevie Waltrip's habit of giving a Bible verse started with Dale's father.  Each week she supplied Dale Senior with a verse to place on the dash of his race car while he race in the weekly NASCAR race.

Darrell Waltrip tells the story here.  Stevie started giving her husband a verse on duct tape or a note card each week for his car.  When Dale Earnhardt Sr. saw this, he asked, "Where's mine?"

From that point on, Stevie provided a verse for him as well.  She spent time praying each week for which verse to write out.

The Bible verse given to Junior this past week an it was placed on his car dash was Isaiah 40:28-31

 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the Twitter world as he promised to do if he won the Daytona 500.  This week we have had an unprecedented look into the world of Junior.  He is using Twitter at rate of dozens of posts each day.

So the quiet ministry of Stevie Waltrip became public to the half-million Twitter followers of Junior.
What is your quiet ministry?  A little action, done for good, can effect the life of one person or may effect the life of countless others.

Please share your quiet ministry with us.

Priority Setting

Today's Auto Club 400 NASCAR race leaves me with mixed feelings.  The last few laps had me on the edge of my seat.  I was on the phone with my daughter sharing the excitement.

My daughter was saying, "This is going to be good."  She felt that Kyle Busch was letting Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano pass him.  "Kyle knows they are going to wreck and then he'll win."

She was right.  That's exactly what happened.

I love to see good racing.  But I don't like to see wrecks especially when a driver is injured.

We fans are so used to seeing spectacular wrecks where the driver walks away unharmed.  But it didn't happen today.  Denny Hamlin was taken away in an ambulance.  The news on Twitter is that he is going to be fine, but there has been no official announcement yet.

I couldn't help but think of Hamlin's life so far this season.  He is a new father and has been doing well racing.  But racing results are not important when compared to life and health.

My prayers are for Hamlin and a quick recovery.  An experience like this helps us put our live's priorities in order.

Motorsports Ministries

This past weekend I attended the 12 Hours of Sebring in Sebring, Florida. This historic race pitted the best sportscar in the world. What a great time I had. But the highlight of the weekend was meeting some wonderful people who are involved in motorsports.

I attended the chapel service of Motorsports Ministries on Friday morning. Motorsports Ministries is "an organization conceived, developed and operated to provide for the spiritual and emotional needs of the people involved in professional and amateur automobile racing.

At the chapel service, I met Richard Anderson who is the executive director of MM. He shared from his heart about God's comfort in his life during this past few months as he has faced cancer. Rich is still facing surgery coming up in April. His message rang true because he is experiencing God's blessing day by day right now.

Also pictured above is Chris. Chris and I met at the service and she quickly became my guide and help to understanding the world of IMSA, International Motor Sports Association.

I'm sure God lead me to these people to open the world of American Le Mans Series racing to me.

Motorsports Ministries is working hard to be a beacon of help and support for the motorsports family.

I hope to meet Rich and Chris again and continue my relationship with Motorsports Ministries.

In the Blink of an Eye

'In the Blink of an Eye' is Michael Waltrip's recently released autobiographical book. I starting reading it two days ago and couldn't put it down until I finished it last night. The story moves quickly from his early years in Owensboro, Kentucky to his eventual successes in NASCAR's highest levels. You will want to read this before the 2011 Daytona 500 where Waltrip will once again race in the NAPA #15 on the 10th anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt in that race.

This is more than a recounting of the events in Waltrip's life. In the Blink of an Eye is the story of faith in his life. Waltrip doesn't tell us details of how faith came to him or what led to his strong faith. But we can see how his faith helped him face the difficulties in his life including the death of his father, his long winless years in NASCAR, the death of his mentor, Dale Earnhardt, and the break-up of his marriage.

Michael Waltrip and his brother Darrell are both big names in NASCAR. However, we have had very little insight into their complicated relationship. Waltrip makes us read between the lines to see exactly how their brother-brother relationship has developed.

In the Blink of an Eye is almost as much about Dale Earnhardt as it is about Waltrip. Earnhardt was both a friend and a hero to Waltrip. Waltrip was just beginning to fulfill his lifelong dream of driving for Earnhardt's racing team when Earnhardt was killed.

Waltrip carries guilt from many of the events in his life including the death of Earnhardt. He uses his faith to process these events and come to grips with the events.

I recommend this enjoyable book. It will give you insight into the world of NASCAR as well as the Waltrip family. Michael's humor is evident throughout the story and you will feel like you are listening to him talk on Inside NASCAR.

Racing in Canada

Welcome to Canada. NASCAR fans are not used to hearing the opening ceremonies offered in French. The province of Quebec, where the race is today, is the only part of Canada that is not bi-lingual. French is the only official language of that province. English is not found on signs or spoken in public locations.

I lived in Canada for 2 years during the 80's. Each time my children heard the Canadian National Anthem, my son thought the final line was

"We stand on guard for thieves."

The Canadian National Anthem is beautiful and actually ends "We stand on guard for thee!"

God & NASCAR

NASCAR begins every event with their "opening ceremonies". This included a color guard to display the flag, an invocation which is an opening prayer and the national anthem. What other sport opens with prayer? None that I know of on the national level.

But this isn't the only time in NASCAR you will see faith in action. I came across an article called

God and NASCAR. Even though it was written two years ago, you may still find it interesting to read about how Christianity is lived out at a race track.

What Does Respect Mean for America

I wrote my column for InsiderRacingNews.com on respect this week. I titled it an Open Letter to Tony Stewart. My personal feeling is that good manners is a form of respect including whatever we do.

Lack of respect is shown by not treating everyone like we would like to be treated. My daughter teaches high school biology. In her classroom there are two rules. 1)Be nice 2)Do your best.

I think all of life would be better if all of us would 'just be nice'.

Is Tony Stewart the only NASCAR driver to not show respect to his fans and the media. Of course not. But Tony Stewart is right out there with his feelings and it becomes evident how he feels.

This extends to the Internet. Just read comments on any news story, twitter or blogs. People can be very disrespectful to anyone who disagrees with them.

Michael Waltrip tweeted recently: Need to learn to debate topics without resorting to insults. It shows a complete lack of intelligence. The unfollow button is easy to find.

I couldn't agree more!