What is an RPM?

When you combine a passion for Christ with a hobby it results in messages of faith that are somewhat unique from what you might find in a traditional devotional book.  This is what we call an RPM, Revelations Per Message. 

The following is a series of devotions that have been published with the intent of sharing with others in the faith and others who enjoy the sport of racing.  If you have an RPM you would like to submit to be published on the site, please email us at crewchief@gospelmotorsports.com. 

Consistency

A key factor in bracket racing is consistency, except when the only form of consistency you experience is consistent mistakes. The race track and the competition are not forgiving to those that cannot cut a consistent reaction time or a car that cannot run a consistent elapsed time. Running a season with inconsistency will quickly take us out of the competition.

The sanctioning body of the Israelites, also known as God, had to deal with a group who consistently made mistakes, from forming a golden calf as an idol to complaining incessantly about the food on their journey from Egypt to the promised-land. They could not be patient for God to deliver them and they started to look back with yearning to their past life as slaves in Egypt.

Thankfully we have recognized that we will consistently make mistakes in our lives, no two ways about it. The Lord knew this, but gave us a clause in the rulebook to allow us to continue life’s race. He provided the championship trophy of salvation to those who put their faith into his Son, Jesus. He did this knowing that we would make many mistakes in life’s race. God’s grace will outlast our attempts at consistency any day. Study up on the rulebook in the Gospel’s of the Bible to ensure that you know the clause to give salvation, in spite of a bad run.

Trouble-Free Ignition

Over the years ignition systems on the automotive engine have advanced to bring a reliable and strong spark to light the fuel and oxygen mixture within the cylinder.  The better the spark, the more power will be created.  Early vehicles were equipped with a points ignition that could falter due to improper gap or suffer from point bounce at higher RPMs.  We are now in a world of electronic ignition and multiple spark discharge units that totally manage the spark duration and strength.

Manufacturers have worked hard to give us  reliable fire inside the cylinder.  However the prophet Isaiah shared that those who light their own fire will not produce reliable results.

Paul's Race Plan

The Apostle Paul could have been quite the crew chief.  He shared the benefits of a light racer and a competitor with focus on the finish line.  In Hebrews he writes:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress.  And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us."

                                            Hebrews 12:1

Do you think that Paul knew 100lbs is worth a tenth in the quarter?  He certainly knew that carrying the extra weight was going to hurt our progress to reach the finish line.

A drag racer goes to incredible lengths to lighten their race car.  Gun drilled axles, acid dipped fenders, carbon fiber body panels, Lexan windows, aluminum blocks and heads, and expensive titanium race parts are only a few of the many ways a drag racer may lighten their car.  Even the gallons of fuel in the tank can affect the ET by a few hundredths of a second.

Sometimes our performance is greatly affected by what we are carrying inside ourselves rather than what is in or on our cars.  Sin can be a very heavy burden and it can hide in the most obscure places.  Common sense drag racers understand the importance of focus on the tree, shift points, and finish line strategy.  If anything causes this focus to stray, our performance in the race can be severely inhibited.  While the weight of sin will not show up at the scales in tech, it will affect your performance in the race, in life, and affect the goal of reaching salvation.

When you find that you are not able to progress in your work, relationships, and even your racing performance, go on a hunt.  Start a search for that extra weight that you are carrying around.  Perhaps it is in the form of a grudge against a friend, co-worker, or family member.  If you can't release them with forgiveness, you will carry a very heavy weight with you where ever you go.  Do not underestimate the power that this weight can have on you.

Another place to look, and it inflicts racers often, is the sin of pride.  The pride can be in our vehicles that we spend time polishing, tuning, and improving to the point where the vehicle becomes the central focus in our lives.  This can be the most dangerous part of our sport as if we are not careful, this sin can cause us to worship our cars and talents as though they are another god.  Our God is a jealous god.  When we put our cars before our worship of Him, we are very close to doing what God's chosen people did with the golden calf when Moses was on Mount Sinai.  1 John 5:21 states, "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts."

You may ask yourself if this means that you need to rid yourself of your car and this sport to be reverent.  There are ways that you can use racing to build your relationship with God.  First might be the mindset.  If your greatest fear is getting a scratch in your ride, or blowing the motor and it would just feel like the worst thing to happen to you if this occurred, it might be a warning sign that racing is overshadowing the Lord.  If you turn your racing operation over to the Lord and realized that things happen for a purpose you can find your faith grow within your hobby.  This is not to say that we should be careless and not change our oil, polish our cars, or any of the routine maintenance.  It is about the mindset and priorities though.

There are many other ways you use racing as an extension of your faith.  Drag racers are a social bunch.  When you are bench racing with you buddies, are you exhibiting a lifestyle of a Christian?  When you look at yourself in the mirror, will others know you are a Christian by your love and actions?  If they do, you will be in effect witnessing for the Lord.  There is also a tremendous amount of time waiting at the races.  Between rounds, can you use some of that time to develop a maintenance plan for your faith.  Read the Bible or other Christian literature.

Let's all face it, we will never be perfect and to that end, Jesus is here to  save our lives.  Sin will happen, every day, every minute, every second, somewhere in this world there will be sin.  The question is whether you will let it slow you down. 

Safety Equipment:

Safety is paramount in any form of motorsports.  Sanctioning bodies include rules to ensure a minimum level of safety and conformity among the vehicles on the track.  The faster you go, the more safety equipment you need.  They may include 5-point harnesses, helmets, SFI approved jackets, suits, gloves, shoes, and underwear.  The safety manufacturers have developed materials to improve our safety, including kevlar and nomex.  Our cars may need to be equipped with roll bars, drive shaft loops, blowproof bellhousings, SFI approved flywheels and more.

Of all the pieces of safety equipment for racing, the Lord has given us a measure of safety that we should take with us no matter where we are or what we are doing.  That security can be found in salvation.  Salvation is not intended to keep us safe here on earth, but rather it assures us of our continuance of life in heaven with Jesus.  There is only one place to get salvation and that is from Jesus.  He has demonstrated life after death and the promise that we can achieve the same by accepting him in our hearts.

As a driver, sometimes you give that extra tug to the seat belts to make sure they are tight, tighten the chin strap, and take a firmer grip on the steering wheel.  A great safety addition is a quick prayer to the Lord to snug the grip he has on your life.

Psalm 27:1 states, "The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"  With the peace of mind that the Lord can bring, it can rid the worry and concern that often plagues our lives here on earth.

Salvation comes with an installation guide as well.  The Bible gives us the outline of how to get salvation, and how to maintain our ride in life to ensure that we keep it in check. 

Before strapping into your race car, or setting your feet on the ground after rolling out of bed, make sure that your safety equipment is in check.  Give Jesus a call and make sure that your certification for salvation is up to date.

Fuel Quality:

A racer or crew chief is very conscious of the fuel and the fuel system that feeds a race motor.  A slight miscalculation in the octane or the flow characteristics can cause disastrous results.  If a contaminant enters the engine through the fuel and causes a valve to stick or scores the cylinder, it may degrade performance or destroy an engine. 

Similarly, we should watch the fuel quality we put into our bodies.  Our bodies are fueled in various ways, physically, mentally and spiritually.  Proper management of the fuel we put inside will yield maximum all around performance in our daily lives.

If we ingest too much of the wrong kinds of foods, we will soon clog our bodily fuel lines and cause restrictive flow to get the oxygen to the parts of our body that need it.  This can cause fuel starvation and result in a power level that may not be able to finish the race.  Left unchecked, this kind of damage may necessitate a rebuild of our vascular system and leave us sitting out for the next round. 

Fueling our minds can be just as important as fueling our bodies.  There are some fuels today that will not only contaminate our minds, but can so greatly contaminate our lives that we may cross the center line and start causing harm to others on life's track.  The flow capacity of the media and the diversity in which we can receive our mental fuel is ever increasing.  In addition to the books, newspapers, radio and television, the internet has added another source to receive mental fuel.  The sheer availability of all this information and entertainment is boggling, but like the fuel in our cars and bodies, we need to carefully choose what we feed our minds.

Does the media emulate our life or do we begin to emulate our media?  Just as a child may see a super hero on a cartoon and pretend they are the crusader just witnessed, adults have the ability to ingest the words, actions, tone and treatment of others and make those components a part of themselves.  It can be seen regularly in society, the attitudes that are shared and memorialized on radio, television, and movies find their way into the fabric of life as we either strive to imitate those people or we are affected by the subconscious influence from the repetition.  We begin to absorb the actions and the statements that are stated by the shock jock in the morning.  We begin to think that taking a person and tearing them down for the benefit of others to see is acceptable.  We are seeing and learning how to be socially aggressive to vote people off an island and to show ourselves so little respect that we will treat ourselves to the things we fear most for fame and money. 

For many years there have been opponents to the availability of violent and sexually explicit material in all forms of media.  Our first amendment rights are important and trying to adjust them is not a good way to filter our mental fuel.  The Old Testament is filled with God's direction to stay away from other cultures who participate in sinful ways.  While the lines of culture have been blurred of the years, this scripture acknowledged the existence of those who would bring sinful ways and suggested that the filtration was avoidance.  We do not have to legislate filters, we can be our own filters by making choices.  The reasons that the availability of these types of media exist are not because they are legislated in, it is because we watch them.  God knows we will be tempted to follow in their ways if we live in their shadow.  So why fill your tank with that kind of fuel. 

God wants us to love our brothers and sisters.  The way we see people treated through the media will only set the stage for similar actions in our home and work life.  The amount of time that is  consumed in the workplace dealing with disputes, slander, and harassment is growing.  As a competitive nation, we want to spend our time producing, not trying to politic our way to the top.  Where are our efforts being spent?  Is it to kick the other person off the island, or are we really pulling for our team, for mankind?  Is the fuel you are putting into your mind and spirit something you want to instill in future generations?  Is it something you want to have done to you?  If not, then you are likely in a land where God does not want you to be.  You may think you will be able to resist like the Israelites, but over time they fell prey to the worship of the pagan gods of foreign lands and suffered the punishment associated by forsaking the Lord.  By putting this fuel in your tank you will be contaminating your life.  Some of these contaminants can cause a full rebuild that may take years to clean up.  Why risk putting the wrong fuel in your tank.  If you want to run to the finish line of salvation, fill your tank with an octane booster from Jesus and read your Bible.