Welcome to Windy City Raceway Ministries Blog.
In this first installment, we want to share with each other, all the exciting "God Stories" from this past weekend at Chicagoland Speedway.
Please feel free to post on this blog YOUR story from the weekend!
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Watching God assemble a bunch of ordinary people for a weekend to do His work is just so exciting. My thanks to everyone who participated in whatever capacity. From an early morning coffee distribution to overnight security guards to a concert in a campground, God gave us all an opportunity to shine His light all weekend. Way to go WCRM volunteers!!
One of my more memorable God moments from the weekend came on Saturday afternoon just before the chapel service. As Andy Nearpass and I stood near the main tent, we watched an ambulance go whizzing by. Since Andy was about to start the chapel service, I followed the path of the ambulance down into parking lot C behind our tent. As I came upon the scene, I saw a middle aged gentleman being put in the ambulance. As I offered my assistance to the paramedics outside the ambulance, he said that the gentleman was alone at the track, but they had called his family on his cell phone and they were meeting him at the hospital.
As I turned around, there stood a group of five people who attended to "Chris", the gentleman in the ambulance, prior to the paramedic arrival.
Their story was very interesting. They were tailgating and Chris just wandered up to their group. He conversed with them for a while and then, all of a sudden, showed the signs of a seizure of some kind. Not quite what you would have in mind at a NASCAR race party! They immediately summoned help and the paramedics arrived quickly, but it seemed like hours. It was certainly obvious that these people needed to deal with what just happened to them!
I knew I was way outside my box, but I did the only thing that made sense. Prayer! We prayed as a group and the tension of the moment began to subside. We processed what had happened for a while, then one of the guys said; "There must be a reason Chris wandered by our campsite and struck up the conversation with us just before he had the seizure" As we talked about one of them being a nurse, one of them having a son who had seizures and one of them being so calm under the pressure of the situation, it was clear that God orchestrated Chris’s arrival just to this group who could help him in his time of need. What a great conversation! God does show up in all kinds of situations on race weekend! Yeah God!
I am totally in awe of how great our God is and what He did for us all weekend in both big and small ways.
One of the most awesome moments for me is actually still unfolding. I had the amazing opportunity of providing the invocation for both the Nationwide and the Cup races on Friday and Saturday. That for me was an awesome experince because Carol and I were also permitted to attend both drivers meetings and to rub shoulders with some of these guys including Richard Petty was totally awesome.
But for God He had another purpose in mind, because my day job is in sales. I have recieved and I am still getting e-mails and calls from customers from all over the country asking if that was me, and how did I get that opportunity and what else do we do, etc. ? What a neat way through something that I was really excited about to really share to other people who weren't even there "Why we are Here."
If we leave ourselves open and vulnerable to the Spirit He will open doors for us that we can't even phathom.
Thanks again for all your help and I look forward to reading all your stories big and small about how God used you to Shine His Light at the track.
After the Cup race on Saturday evening, many of us were hanging around the main tent helping people to be reunited with lost items at the designated Lost and Found station. A young man wandered hesitantly into the tent and said he wanted us to have a moment of silence with him because he had a co-worker take his own life during the past week.
He told us that it took a whole lot of courage for him to enter a ministry tent, but something brought him there. As one can imagine, he had many questions and a whole lot of pain. We talked with him, prayed with him, and he also talked about his own adolescent son as being very trying at times. We encouraged him to love his son unconditionally every day-even when he has those pre-teen attacks of doing goofy things.
He repeatedly thanked us and said he was so glad we were at the track. We were so happy to spend some time with him. This is EXACTLY why we do what we do, and we are so grateful to be invited by Chicagoland Speedway to assist the fans in whatever way possible. I am joyful to have the privilege of serving with so many totally committed volunteers. Thank you everyone for your dedication of spreading Christ's love in a motor sports setting.
Roxi said...I never stop being amazed how quickly God answers our prayers. In the main tent a gal came in with a japaneeze beatle in her ear. I asked her if I could pray with her and she said yes. About an hour later she came up to me and said the beatle came out in the ambulance before they got off the track. I asked for that beatle to come out and God graciously complied. Her daughter and grandsons were with her so who knows how that will impact them, they heard the prayer. God is so good!!!!
I just wanted to say that what you guys are doing is a blessing. I watched from afar and was so blessed to see GOD's work being done in a way that allowed people who may not want to sit within the walls of a church. But having an open welcoming place was definitely a way to show that GOD is indeed everywhere.
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