by: oug Hastings
9/1/2007

Doug Hastings is on the management team at the Moody Broadcasting Network in Chicago during the week, but on race day, a member of the Brookside Motorsports Team. Shawn Matthuis is the team owner and his son Sean is the Driver. Brookside Motorsports uses their car and racing as a way to witness for Jesus Christ in the CRA late model racing series across the mid-west. Doug serves as the chaplain for the Series. www.brooksidemotorsports.com

Monday began with a Chapel service. I am again grateful for the opportunity the Champion Racing Association (CRA) officials gave me to hold this short devotional time. About 20 drivers and crew members came to the pit grandstands, where I talked about having an "Attitude of Perseverance." I used several verses from Philippians 3 where the Apostle Paul talks about "pressing on"? Little did our team know that a different kind of perseverance would play a big part in our race day activities.

We started 15th, and with 100 laps of racing, the game plan was to stay clean and out of trouble and be around at the end to get a good finish. This track has a way of jumping out and biting you, and we knew many cars would be casualties along the way. Sean noticed around lap 40 that we had lost a spark plug on one cylinder, therefore running on only 7 cylinders instead of 8. Not a good thing, but not "terminal" at this track. We were running 11th on lap 70 when one of the competitors hit the back wall and needed medical attention. The CRA officials threw the red flag and we stopped in turn 1. When the wreck had been cleared, they started the cars moving, but Sean reported something very wrong with the car. We encouraged him to keep it moving and maybe it was vapor lock or something else since we had been stopped for a few minutes. After 8 laps of green flag racing and Sean visibly fighting to keep the car out of the wall the whole time, he came to the pits. We discovered we had lost the spindle on the driver's side of the rear end axle. Repairs were attempted, but such a complicated mechanism is not quickly put back together. We lost several laps while we worked, but then got Sean ready to take the car out the way it was, and to log as many laps as possible going as fast as he could and still control the car. A yellow flag came out at just the right time and we joined the field on lap 84. Sean courageously drove the car for those final 16 laps, and when the race was completed, we finished in the 8th position, a pretty phenomenal day! Several veteran teams marveled at Sean and his perseverance at driving the car on 7 cylinders and a partial rear axle many teams would have parked the car and called it a day.

Not giving up on race day is important, but even more important is perseverance in life something God wants to see from us as His children. We can't live off past successes in the Christian life, or dwell on past failures. "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Editors Note: Shawn Matthuis has been a friend of Quiet Waters Ministries for several years. So I've been following Brookside Motorsports Team this season through Doug?s weekly newsletter. This article is from that newsletter. As a Christian leaders you know ministry requires perseverance and I hope you found Doug's words helpful and encouraging. Jim