Coasting

As a kid I loved to go to the races with my dad. It was the highlight of my whole week, even when I played sports I liked going to the races better. I grew up going to the races most every Saturday night that it didn't rain. We would load up, drive an hour and a half to Gainesville and have fun. I loved to stand in what is called the staging lanes or in the stands. The stands face the dragstrip, but if you go up to the top of the stands and stand up you can see all of the pit areas behind you and watch what all is going on in the entire place. I loved to do that as well, but growing up there were a few racers that I particularly rooted for and liked to follow on the track and in the pits. There was a group of cars called the Milltown Hustlers that I would watch race, then follow them around to the pits. They always pitted close to the stands and away from most people so that when they came back towards the pits they can shut the engine off and coast the rest of the way in. I don't know for sure why they always did that, but they did and I thought it was cool.
Then, one day as a young teenager my dad got us pit passes to Daytona and we got to see a lot of the Nascar drivers practicing weeks before the races. I loved watching them, and as they exited the track most of them would shut the engine off and coast into either the pit road area or into the garage area. It looked so cool, and so fun and I don't even know why.
My confession to you now is that when I started racing, and to this day as I enter the pit area headed to the trailer after a run I shut the car off and coast. It doesn't feel nearly as cool as I thought it would, but it's something I always sought after to do, now I do it without realizing it.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1–2)
In this passage Paul is calling for us as believers to seek after God. We need to stay under power and strive to be more like Him. Not like things on the earth and if we find ourselves not seeking Him we will begin to coast. THe problem with coasting is that there is no power for anything. When I coast in my racecar the car is off and all I can do is steer and stop. In a street automobile everything is power nowadays and you can't steer or stop once you shut the car off. When we stop looking at Christ, when we stop seeking Him on a daily basis we start coasting and we are no longer able to steer around the world or stop before we collide with some temptation or sin that will overcome us. Our strength and power come from Christ on a daily basis and if we don't go to the power source we will find ourselves coasting, and that is no good in life.
So try each day to seek Him, not just be a Christian, but seek Him and His desires for your life and find power to overcome all obstacles.
Thanks for reading and have and awesome day!