Thoughts on Debt Ceiling & Fear

Posted on Aug 4, 2011 in Blog | 7 comments

Coach Joe Gibbs shares his thoughts on the debt ceiling debate and shares insight into his race team and ministry in this latest video blog update.

Transcript:

Thanks for joining me for this little update. I want to start off with our racing programs.

Our story with Motocross is really injuries. Everybody has been hurt over there. We finally got Justin back. He did a great job in Washington State where he finished 5th and then we lose Davi Millsaps. It’s not a major problem with his knee but we felt like he needed some scope surgery so he has been out for awhile. We hope to get him back in 2-3 weeks. The guys are travelling all over the country and we are going to continue to go after it in Motocross.

In our Nationwide program on the NASCAR side, we have actually been running young guys over there for the last couple of weeks. Michael McDowell has been driving the #18 car, Drew Herring has been driving the #20 car and Brian Scott has been in the #11 car – all three young guys. They have been doing an admirable job for us. We have been trying to help them out and bring them along. We kept our Cup drivers out of the Nationwide cars for two weeks. On the Nationwide side we have a total of 8 wins. Kyle has 6, Denny has 1 and Joey Logano has 1. So it has been a very successful program. To be truthful, we are trying to see if there is someone there we could bring along who would eventually have a career in Cup.

On the Cup side, the big side, we are closing in on The Chase which is the last 10 races. Right now Joey is 19th in points. It would be great to see him climb on up in the “teens”. It would also be great for him to get a win or two down the stretch. He could do it. We have talked about it this week. We hated what happened at Indy to us. It became a fuel mileage situation and we chose to pit. We had two options – pit and try and run hard or try and save fuel on the track without pitting. The strategy didn’t pay off for us there. I thought we had a top ten car.

Denny is 11th in points. He followed the same strategy at Indy. It really hurt us but the bottom line there is that Denny has one win this year and we are coming to some very good tracks for him – Pocono, Michigan, Richmond. Those are all places he could win. Our focus there is that we need to win another race and climb up in points.

Kyle is in pretty good shape. We have three wins there and sitting 4th in points. We have a total of four wins this year in Cup.

Let’s talk about ministry for a minute or two – Game Plan for Life. Our speaking ministry included us being in Daytona July 4th where we had two prison visits. I’ve got to tell you guys that I think I get more out of it than they do. When you stop and think about it I tell them “hey, look I envy you guys” and they look at me like “are you kidding me?” Most of them are young. I tell them I am 70 years old and a lot of you guys are in your 20’s. “You’ve got the rest of your life – you’ve got 30, 40, 50 years to really live the rest of your life”. And then, of course, we share with them that we serve a God of second chances and it doesn’t matter what you have done in your life. Just look at the life of David and all of the things that he fell on. Yet God said when David fell at his feet – “this is a man after my own heart”. So we have the message to give them and it’s great to go to the prisons. We have been doing that regularly.

Huntsville, Alabama is coming up soon. We were set to speak there in April but with the tornadoes that hit, they lost all power in the community and we couldn’t do it. We have rescheduled for September 28. Pray for the speaking ministry as we go forward.

I want to mention the website – www.gameplanforlife.com. As you know, we have been putting short interesting topics on the website. They are very similar to magazine clips. We are adding three this week. “The Top 10 Babe Ruth Moments” is one of them. We think that relates to the Purpose chapter in the book. And then “The Top 10 Places to Explore”. That kind of ties into Creation and we are also adding “Top 10 Western Movies”. Maybe some of you could take a guess at what those would be. I think you will enjoy visiting the website gameplanforlife.com.

I try and put together an inspirational thought during our get togethers. Let me tell you what’s happening to me and what is taking place in America. And when I mention debt to everyone, we are all thinking “debt ceiling”. In other words we have just had an absolute wild time on Capitol Hill. It’s been Republicans vs. Democrats and we have been trying to decide whether we raise the debt limit or not. That was just an absolute battle and many times what I heard (and I’m not even participating or on the Hill) was if we fail to do this it could be a financial Armageddon. I am going “oh my gosh – I’ve got a small business here, the race team. I’m a business person from that standpoint. How is this going to affect my company and our race team?” Many of you out there are probably going through the same thing. The point is I can’t control that. I’m not up there on Capitol Hill. I am not going to be able to make that happen. It kind of gives you that helpless feeling.

I was standing on pit row two weeks ago and we had just lost a motor in practice with Denny in the #11 car and we are going to have to start in the back of the field. I was thinking to myself as I stood on pit row and after several meetings. “Lord, don’t let something else happen mechanically to our cars or lose another motor.” I got to thinking about the pressure where you are worrying about things like the debt ceiling. The truthful answer to that is that I cannot control a lot of the things that are happening in the things that I have chosen to be in. I was in football. I couldn’t control injuries or fumbles or things that happen in the game. You worry about those things but should you really be worrying? I then come over here to racing and I find it’s the same thing. Lots of things happen – we blow a tire, you lose a motor, we run out of gas. All those things can happen to you on this side – things that are so important to you because the sponsors are counting on you. So I am standing there and praying to the Lord. Then all of a sudden it dawned on me that the things that I have been in during my lifetime – so many things I can’t control. I couldn’t control it in football and I can’t control it in racing. Then I stopped and thought – that’s where God wants me. He wants me in those situations. If I thought I could fix everything, then I am going to be looking at what? Myself. But if I know I can’t fix it, I am going to be looking where? Up to Him. He can fix anything.

So it gave me a peace there and I thought I would share that with some of you. In the Bible study I have been going through with J. Vernon McGee, it made a point in there. He often went to the hospital as a pastor and he would be talking to the people in the hospital beds saying everything is going to be OK. He told them God knows this is happening in your life and he was trying to encourage people. Then all of a sudden J. Vernon McGee had a battle with cancer. He said he found himself in the hospital. Now that’s totally different. He said he was laying there saying to himself that probably a lot of the things the doctors were going to tell him he couldn’t control. Maybe many of you out there are struggling with either your company, relationships or some kind of addiction. Of all the things that happen to us in life, there are some things you can control but a lot of things in our life are what? Out of our control. The point is this. If we are on God’s team and we have made a commitment to invite Him into our life and we say “God, I know I am a sinner. You sent your only son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. He lived a perfect life and he died for my sins. I asked you to come into my life, forgive me of my sins and be my Lord and personal Savior.” And God says if you will just pray that little prayer and talk to him, at that point you are sealed. There is nothing (I don’t care how bad it is, what sickness, what addiction, what problems you’ve got) that can take you out of His hands. Then our hope is what? Rather than worry and fret and try and make these things happen on our own, there is a certain peace in saying “God, I know I can’t control a lot of this but I am asking you for wisdom. I am going to work as hard as I can – that’s our obligation. I am going to pray for Godly wisdom but basically I can’t control this and I have to look to you.” And that is where God wants us – looking to Him. That kind of changed my life and outlook on the pressures I have sometimes. Maybe that will help you.

Once again, I want to encourage everyone to go to www.gameplanforlife.com. We have our New Testament study guide there. If you want to request that, we will send it to you free of charge. We also want to remind everybody that we have our small group studies out. Our latest edition has six topics in it. It is extremely well done by LifeWay. If you want a small group study for your church or your community, I highly recommend it from this standpoint – we filmed a lot of it here around racing and on a football field. I think you will enjoy the videos. With all that said and done, thanks for joining me and go to www.gameplanforlife.com.