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This weekend marked the second weekend of my internship at the Evergreen Speedway at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, WA.
My internship is actually really awesome because I get to help announce the races and -- because of my journalism background -- I also get to write up the race recaps for evergreenspeedway.com.
This last weekend I got my first opportunity to announce a race after one of the announcers gave up his microphone so I could take over during the Renegade Main. Luckily for me, it only ended up being an exhibition because only two of the renegade cars showed up. I was lucky because most of the people took the opportunity to head to the beer garden and weren’t there to watch me stumble over my words and struggle to find the name of the drivers. After the race, I turned to my co-announcer and held out my hand towards him and showed him how furiously my hand was shaking.
After the race I gave the microphone back to the other announcer and went back to my notebook to take notes on the next race. The next race was the Stinger Main, and little did I know those little cars would end up being the most memorable of the night.
I am currently trying to read through the New Testament of the Bible two chapters at a time, and after I am done with my reading I pray that I would find a way to apply what I read to my everyday life. The Stinger main from that night reminded me of 1 Corinthians 9:24: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”
Steve Peters was driving the number 30 car known as “The Battlewagon,” a car he has driven for many years. Peters started the race in the back of the field -- tenth out of 14 cars -- but by lap nine he had worked his way up to third place. The interesting part about Peters’ position was that one spot in front of him was “Battlewagon Junior” driven by Peters’ son Sean Peters.
Over the next four laps, the top three spots would remain the same with the father-son combo of Steve and Sean in second and third, and it appeared Sean’s car had the definite speed advantage over his father Steve. With just ten laps to go, Sean bumped into the first place car, spinning both of them out and allowing Steve to take the lead, which he would hold on to the rest of the way, winning the Stinger Main.
Even though Steve Peters started in the back of the field, even though it looked like his son had the faster car, Peters was racing to win the race. I know that in my life it seems so easy to just give up when things aren’t going my way, when I am in the back of the pack.
The Apostle Paul, like Steve Peters, was also a person who was in “the back of the pack.” Paul was Pharisee who persecuted those who stood up for Jesus Christ, but when Paul made a decision to live for Christ, he went all out. Paul is now known for writing nearly half of the New Testament, even though he could have quit when people didn’t trust him because of his past. He could have quit when he was himself persecuted and thrown in jail numerous times for preaching God’s word; instead Paul knew what Jesus had done for him and what God was calling him to do. Paul ran the race to win.
Hopefully I can learn from Paul and Steve Peters in that even though I was rough in my first announcing stint, I shouldn’t give up. Even though there are times in my life where I appear to be in “the back of the pack,” nothing should stop me from living my life to win the prize -- a prize I pray would be a lifetime in heaven.
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