Preparation and anticipation are not foreign ideas to racers. When the schedules come out, races are circled, plans are made and their focus is set. What is your focus for 2026? What events look attractive? What is your race team preparing for? What are the significant, can’t miss, events that you are anticipating?

Sometimes the understanding of the significance of the birth of Christ can get lost in life. We can get so caught up in the Holidays and New Year events we forget the most significant event in the timeline of mankind occurred when Christ was born.

His birth split time; before His birth time was counted down, after His birth time is counted up. The world is marching toward the next significant event scheduled on the timeline of man, the second coming of Christ. The schedule, however, hasn’t been released;

Mathew 24:36; NLT; However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.

An unknown author contributed this for our consideration; 

One Solitary Life 

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in another village.  He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty.

Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. 

He never owned a home.  He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He

never had a family. He never went to college.  He never put His foot inside a big

city.  He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born.  He never

did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.  He had no credentials but Himself. 

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him.  His friends

ran away.  One of them denied Him.  He was turned over to His enemies.  He went

through the mockery of a trial.  He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves.

While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He

had on earth – His coat.  When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave

through the pity of a friend. 

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress. 

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the

Navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that

ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that ONE SOLITARY LIFE!

Advent begins with hope, anticipation for something promised, a Savior.

Isaiah 7:14; Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (God with us)

Peter, one of the Apostles, knew what it was to have hope in Christ, but not before he lost hope. Peter knew what it was to be hopeless, he denied knowing Christ. He experienced both extremes, being a close companion of Jesus and being totally separated from him.

Peter understood the difference that having Christ in your life makes. He knew that without Christ life was not worth living. Without Christ a relationship with God would not be possible. Without Christ we have no hope, no hope of eternity in heaven with God or His presence with us as we live each day.

If we have a hope in Christ we will live like it, we will be humble, show compassion and sympathy. We will value what God values and be focused on the things of God. Each of our lives has a story, we have a history. When we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our life direction changes, we do an about face and head down the road that leads to God.

We have three aspects of our lives that tell the story of hope. We have the person we were, when we lived by our own rules, when we directed our own path, when we determined what was best for us.

The next step along the journey is our encounter with Christ, someone, some place, somehow we are introduced to Jesus. We come to understand the hope, forgiveness and the life he offers. Our heart is led to accept the gift of His grace and we become a child of God.

Life begins anew, we are born-again. The life that God has for us begins and now we let God direct our path and determine what is best for us. We grow to understand that this is a life worth living; this is a life full of hope.

When we receive Christ, His presence brings Joy and Peace, two things we strive for, but without Christ are not attainable. It all begins with a promise kept, a Savior given. God provides that hope because He loved us. 

John 3:16; NLT; “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”

The world only has hope when we take Christ to them. We need to share that hope with others. We can set them free in Christ. We can give them hope for the forgiveness of their sins. In this season of Advent the hearts of men are tuned to receive the gift of life that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Take this opportunity to proclaim the good news of great joy! Take this time and be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have. 

 1Peter 3:15; But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

 Run the race in such a way as to win, throw off everything that hinders and focus on Jesus. Until next time, remember God loves you and Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing! God Bless. Remember, that your prayerful support and donations helps us continue this ministry. Thank You.

This time of year is a time of preparation, preparing for a season of giving, getting, fun, frenzy and exhaustion. Just like preparing for a race, the Christmas season leaves us with much to do. In churches at this time of year we hear about the Advent season. Advent is a time to prepare for Christmas. Each Sunday we focus on the blessings from God as we lead to Christmas Day, You’ll hear about Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. But what are we really in preparation for? 

I am amazed at the amount of time it takes to prepare for the race. Teams arrive hours ahead of the race and spend that time on getting the car ready for the track. The time spent at driver’s meetings, time trials, practice and don’t forget chapel service. Obviously, the winner did not get to Victory Lane by deciding to race that day and showed up at the track just a few minutes before the race began. There is a lot of preparation that goes into racing. 

So why does preparing for Christmas really matter? We run around trying to find the perfect gifts, getting ourselves into debt and sometimes mumbling about how we can’t wait for this season to be over. The marketing world can get us so worked up about buying that we forget the true meaning of the season. Are we just trying to show those close to us how much we care about them? Isn’t that what Christmas is supposed to be about? 

If we look back in history we will find that giving gifts for Christmas is actually a relatively new thing. It wasn’t until around two hundred years ago that gifts started to be exchanged (before that it was considered an insult to give gifts on Christ’s birthday) and if a gift was given then it was a simple handmade or inexpensive gift so as not to make someone feel ashamed about the worth of their gift. Commercialism started to take over somewhere around 60 to 70 years ago. From there it has spiraled out of control. We have all fallen into the trap of buying bigger and better gifts than the year before. Can we even remember what we received the year before?

When we look into the meaning of Advent we find it means “to come to” or “an arrival” and that it refers to Christ’s coming into this world. 

Luke 2:8-20, The Shepherds and Angels

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in highest heaven,

    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.    

However, Advent has another meaning; it refers also to Christ’s second coming as He has promised to come back again.

Revelation 21: 1-4, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

We focus our thoughts on the birth of Christ at Christmas. As Christians though we should also be looking for the second coming of Christ. It should remind us that He is found within us every day, we are never alone and one day he will come back in glory so that we might share in God’s Kingdom with Him.

By bringing the true meaning of Christmas back in front of us we will be able to let go of the pressure of thinking that it is all about finding just the right gift, how much money to spend this year, which party to attend and do we go to the grandma’s house or just stay home this year? 

If we take the time to slow down and step back from all the frenzy we will find the moments that bring us the most joy. What would happen if we spent less time shopping this year? Perhaps we wouldn’t spend the next few months trying to pay it off or catch up with the bills? 

Advent reminds us of the Hope, Joy, Peace and Love we have in Christ.

Romans 5: 1-5, Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

As we spend time looking into what Christmas should be about, maybe we can let go and focus on thanking God for the gift He gave us with the birth of Christ and the promise that He will come again. 

When we look at the gifts that we can give, we should all realize that the best gift is our time. By helping those in need, visiting a lonely person, giving a friend a call or praying for a closer walk with God we will let go of the need to compete with those around us and the true reason we celebrate Christmas will follow us long into the New Year. 

Until next time, remember God loves you and Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing! God Bless. Remember, that your prayerful support and donations helps us continue this ministry. Thank You.

So, what do race teams hope for? What do they need to take the next step? It is different for each one. Some know exactly what they need and others are still searching for the answer. Some hope for a good finish. Others hope to keep things in one piece so they can race another day. For some, the hope of victory, anything short of that is a failure.

What do we hope for? The weeks of advent give us a clue as to what is truly important in life. Hope, Joy, Peace and Love. Those are things that a fulfilling and satisfying life is built on. When we talk about hope it is important to remember true hope can only be found in someone who has the power and authority to change things. The process of figuring that out is the journey we take in life.

Peter, one of the Apostles, took that journey and figured out a few things the hard way. He learned what it was to have hope in Christ. Before you recognize hope sometimes you need to be hopeless. Peter knew what it was to be hopeless, he denied knowing Christ. He experienced both extremes, being a close companion of Jesus and being totally separated from him.

Peter understood the difference that having Christ in your life makes. He knew that without Christ life was not worth living. Without Christ the blessing of God would not be on his life. Without Christ he had no hope.

Peter took the time to encourage us to tell people of the hope we have in Christ. He knew that it was important for everyone to know that life is different when we have hope in Christ. For those of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior he gave us some instructions on how we should share that hope.

1Peter 3:8-10; Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

If we have a hope in Christ we will live like it, we will be humble, show compassion and sympathy. We will value what God values and be focused on the things of God. Let me ask you, how has your life changed because you have hope in Christ?

Each of our lives has a story, we have a history. When we come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our lives direction changes, we do an about face and head down the road that leads to God.

We have three aspects of our lives that tell the story of hope. We have the person we were, when we lived by our own rules, when we directed our own path, when we determined what was best for us.

The next step along the journey is our encounter with Christ, someone, some place, somehow we are introduced to Jesus. We came to understand the hope, forgiveness and the life he offers. Our heart was led to accept the gift of His grace and we become a child of God.

Then life begins anew, we are born-again. The life that God has for us begins and now we let God direct our path and determine what is best for us. We grow to understand that this is a life worth living; this is a life full of hope.

The preparation for the coming Savior begins with hope, hope that comes with a fresh start. The world only has hope when we take Christ to them. We need to share our hope with others. True hope that we can only set them free from the burdens in life by Christ. True hope is found in no one else. We should share this hope, the hope that comes with the forgiveness of our shortcomings.

We can do this by responding to the hope we have received. In this season of hope the hearts of men are tuned to receive the gift of life that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Take this opportunity to proclaim the good news of great joy! Take this time and be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks. Take this time to give a reason for the hope that you have. 

1Peter 3:15; But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Until next time, remember God loves you and Jesus is Lord over Auto Racing! God Bless. Remember, that your prayerful support and donations helps us continue this ministry. Thank You.