Ryan's Bachelor Party
I went racing this past Saturday at K1 Speed with a group of guys for Ryan Chung's bachelor party. It was really fun.
That is Ryan and me wearing our head socks.
I tried taking a picture of myself while we were lining up for our last race of the day.
This is the view of what I saw before the race. The cars were electric and very fast.
Here's a video of our races from Troy's head cam. He zooms past me from 00:25 to 00:45 because I drive like my mom.
Top 98.96%
I was actually quite discouraged most of the night. I guess I am competitive. I was discouraged because no matter how hard I tried, I just could not go as fast as the rest of my friends. I ended up placing 5th, out of 16th, in our final race. Johnny, Troy, Andre, and Ryan were too fast for me. They just kept getting farther and farther ahead.
After the race, K1 Speed gave us a report of how we did relative to our group, and relative to everyone else who had ever raced that track. I was surprised to see that I ranked 14,995 out of 1,447,514 -- and that I placed in the top 98.96%.
Discouragement to Conviction
As I realized how well I did, my heart changed from feeling discouraged to feeling convicted of my sin.
You see, during the race, I tried really hard when Andre was a little ahead of me. But as the race dragged on, and as his lead kept growing and growing, I grew more and more discouraged. And as I grew more discouraged, I drove slower and slower. There was a snowball effect. I wanted to go faster and catch up, but I could not, so because I could not, I got discouraged and drove slower. My fastest lap was 30.474 seconds. My slowest lap was over 37 seconds.
I realized I had sinned because I was only racing to be faster than Andre. Or rather, I was only racing to be #1. I was not racing (1 Corinthians 10:31) for the glory of God. If I had, I would have gone my fastest every lap regardless of whether I would have beaten Andre or not.
Parable of the Talents
God gives people different talents (Matthew 25:14-30). To some, he gives five talents. To others, he gives three. And to some, he gives one. God demands that we do our best based on what he has given us. He does not demand that we do our best based on what he has given others.
No matter our lot, we all tend to envy those who have more than us. I know I do. And sometimes, that can be very discouraging. That very same discouragement causes us to not go as fast as God designed us to go. And that -- is sin.
Americans
I am so fortunate and blessed to be an American. I forget that a lot.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the 2011 per capita GDP of an American wa $48,000 a year. According to the Global Rich List, a person earning that amount is in the top 0.99% of the wealthiest people in the world. The average American would be ranked 59,805,858 richest out of 7 billion people. So if you are an average American, you're in the top 1% of the world.
I went racing this past Saturday at K1 Speed with a group of guys for Ryan Chung's bachelor party. It was really fun.
That is Ryan and me wearing our head socks.
I tried taking a picture of myself while we were lining up for our last race of the day.
This is the view of what I saw before the race. The cars were electric and very fast.
Here's a video of our races from Troy's head cam. He zooms past me from 00:25 to 00:45 because I drive like my mom.
Top 98.96%
I was actually quite discouraged most of the night. I guess I am competitive. I was discouraged because no matter how hard I tried, I just could not go as fast as the rest of my friends. I ended up placing 5th, out of 16th, in our final race. Johnny, Troy, Andre, and Ryan were too fast for me. They just kept getting farther and farther ahead.
After the race, K1 Speed gave us a report of how we did relative to our group, and relative to everyone else who had ever raced that track. I was surprised to see that I ranked 14,995 out of 1,447,514 -- and that I placed in the top 98.96%.
Discouragement to Conviction
As I realized how well I did, my heart changed from feeling discouraged to feeling convicted of my sin.
You see, during the race, I tried really hard when Andre was a little ahead of me. But as the race dragged on, and as his lead kept growing and growing, I grew more and more discouraged. And as I grew more discouraged, I drove slower and slower. There was a snowball effect. I wanted to go faster and catch up, but I could not, so because I could not, I got discouraged and drove slower. My fastest lap was 30.474 seconds. My slowest lap was over 37 seconds.
I realized I had sinned because I was only racing to be faster than Andre. Or rather, I was only racing to be #1. I was not racing (1 Corinthians 10:31) for the glory of God. If I had, I would have gone my fastest every lap regardless of whether I would have beaten Andre or not.
Parable of the Talents
God gives people different talents (Matthew 25:14-30). To some, he gives five talents. To others, he gives three. And to some, he gives one. God demands that we do our best based on what he has given us. He does not demand that we do our best based on what he has given others.
No matter our lot, we all tend to envy those who have more than us. I know I do. And sometimes, that can be very discouraging. That very same discouragement causes us to not go as fast as God designed us to go. And that -- is sin.
Americans
I am so fortunate and blessed to be an American. I forget that a lot.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the 2011 per capita GDP of an American wa $48,000 a year. According to the Global Rich List, a person earning that amount is in the top 0.99% of the wealthiest people in the world. The average American would be ranked 59,805,858 richest out of 7 billion people. So if you are an average American, you're in the top 1% of the world.
Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. (Luke 12:48)May God grant us humble hearts, so that we may look only to him and not to others, so that we may love and serve him with our all.
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