As a fan, 2007 was a watershed year for my ongoing F1 education. Here are a few things I learned:
1. You can indeed get into the F1 paddock. It just takes one drink too many and a load of cash (or plastic) when the charity auction hammer drops. Hey Honda, please get back to me and explain exactly what happened to my “Christian Klein Guided Tour.”
2. It is possible for an unknown internet writer to talk his way into getting press credentials. It wasn’t Formula 1 but it was historic grand prix racing in all its glory. I stood trackside (no fences) as some of the prettiest cars racing has ever seen raced past on the legendary Mosport track. Some of the best shots are in a back issue of my BrakeTest newsletter.
3. Networking pays off. My newsletter fell into the hands of a local author who needed a photographer for the Toronto Grand Prix. “Race photos? Katherine Legge? Three days? Sure, I’m your man!” Not a single usable photo for her book but a hell of an education for me!
4. Racing can cost more than money. While on honeymoon in Scotland, I made a personal pilgrimage to the grave of Jim Clark, one of the most gifted race drivers ever to grace F1. Standing there in the cemetery reminded me of the price that has sometimes been paid in this sport. In an age of carbonfiber safety cells and emasculated tracks, its easy to forget how dangerous it was and is.
5. Its easy to overextend. While all of the above was going on, I was putting together a monthly newsletter on racing, preparing for a September wedding and honeymoon, working a full time job and buying a house (10 days before said wedding). It took its toll and the end result was that BrakeTest.net will be wrapped up shortly. It was a good run but too time consuming.
My desire to write will hopefully be contained by this blog while some larger projects gel in the background. I’m looking forward to the more interactive environment the blog provides and hope to hear from old friends from BrakeTest and new F1 fans alike.
I believe I believe “That God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That God did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” John3:16,17 I believe Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. I believe We are saved through faith in God. That faith is defined in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I believe Jesus when he said in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” I believe Romans 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” I believe Romans 6:23 when it states. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I believe 1John1:9 “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness.” I believe Psalms 139:13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; you works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written” in your book before one of them came to be.” That God knows our very make up physically, mentally, and spiritual. That God understands fully our physical, emotional and spiritual problems. That God knows our very genetic make up. I believe God always meets us were we are at, physically, emotionally and spiritually. I believe it is important to share my faith with others. Mark 16:15,16 makes this clear ” He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” I believe That God has given all people a free will, and that salvation is a matter between God and the individual. That individual must choose to follow God. God will never force them to follow Him. I believe A person who truly comes into a personal relationship with God, who truly lets God into their heart and life, cannot help but be changed. I believe I should share that faith in a none judgmental way. I must present the hope I have in Jesus Christ to others and not impose it upon them. I believe I have no right to judge any man, Luke 6:37 makes this clear “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. As does Matthew 7:1 “Judge not that you be not judged.” I believe Matthew 7:2 “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” For that reason if for nothing else I must as far as humanly possible be careful not to judge my fellow man. I believe the apostle Paul when he writes in Romans 12:18 “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” I believe the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied: ” `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (niv) I believe Jesus also when he said, “You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” Matthew 5:43,44 I believe That the apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 13:4-8a,13 describes what Christian love should be, “Love suffers long and is kind: love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:4-8a,13 I believe “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.” Romans 13:1-5
I believe That the only time when we are to go against the governing authorities is when those authorities forbid we as Christians from practising our faith. I believe The Bible is a book of fact and faith. The sole purpose of the bible is to point mankind to God. It is not intended as a science book. Nor is it intended as a book of judgment. It is a book of hope. A book of faith pointing man to the one true God. I believe God’s word is the same yesterday today and always. I believe That God delivered the same faith message to those in Old Testament times as He did to those in New Testament times. That, that message is still there to day for all to see. I believe The bible was written at a time when mankind had a limited knowledge with respect to what we have today. I believe God in his wisdom did not try and explain genetics or advanced Physics or modern medicine or any kind of advanced scientific theory to man in biblical times simply because mankind wasn’t ready for it. And it was irrelevant to the salvation message. Nor was it important to him following God by faith. I believe That God layed the way of salvation in the simplest of way possible in order that all people may come to know Him, no matter how limited their understanding. I believe That all Christians as individuals need to study the scriptures. To ask questions of God and those teachers around us whom we trusts. Because as 2 Timothy 3:16,17 states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God maybe complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” I believe that it is only in studying the bible that we can grow in Christ.
When I became a follower of Jesus Christ I underwent two different conversions, although I didn’t realize it at the time. First, I was converted from my old life into the Body of Christ by reconciliation with God through Jesus. Hallelujah! At about the same time I bought into the Evangelical Subculture under the false impression that it WAS the Body of Christ. It took me years to realize the difference between the two.
I had been aware of “Christendom”: that worldly religious structure consisting of political and economic empires and bureaucracies, both Protestant and Catholic, that had fought religious wars and undertaken crusades to retake the “Holy Land”, that had burned people at the stake, that continued to preach false Christ’s and false gospels of works, and that continues to talk about the counterfeit unity called Ecumenicalism.
But I had not understood the nature of the Evangelical Subculture, that is a part of the worldly structure of “Christendom”. This subculture has its own organizations and institutions, denominations, para-church organizations; its own magazines and radio stations and TV networks; its own schools and colleges and universities; its own celebrities; its own music industry and book stores; its own marketing and advertising worlds.
Like Joining a Club
The tragedy of the Evangelical Subculture is that people who have a sincere desire to follow Jesus get side tracked into a zeal for being a part of this worldly system. It is like joining a club. The club member begins to wear the clothes and trinkets bought at the “Christian” book stores; watch “Christian” TV and listen to “Christian” radio; buy the latest fad books that sweep the “Christian media”; subscribe to the “Christian” magazines; worship the “Christian” celebrities; use all the latest jargon promoted in the latest books by the celebrity authors.
A cult-like mentality develops among people who see this Evangelical system as identical to the Body of Christ. Their zeal is for the trappings of the subculture. It is its own religion. If someone tries to point out the unbiblical nature of some aspect of this subculture people will take offense because you are criticizing their religion. The subculture becomes the message. The “gospel” that people preach is for conversion to the system, not really to Jesus Christ.
The Subculture, Institutionalism, and Deception
The pop culture of Evangelicalism feeds on institutionalism, denominationalism, institutional church organizations, and the professional clergy system. The professional clergy and their church organizations, in turn, find an indoctrinated constituency to fill their pews and programs. Both the subculture and the institutional churches turn a relationship with Jesus and his people into a participation in a religion and a lifestyle.
This Evangelical Subculture has played a major role in setting professing Christians up for deception. It seduces people to think and act like the subculture instead of reading the Bible for themselves and deriving their understanding from the Bible. It has been this subculture that has infected the Evangelicals with psychology, self-esteem, political action and social activism, unity at the expense of sound doctrine, mysticism, and cult attachments to gurus, movements, and organizations. Ultimately, the end of this deception is a merging of the Evangelical Subculture with the global counterfeit religious vision.
We ought to be content with the simplicity of following Jesus and being the Body of Christ together with those the Lord provides for fellowship, according to the teachings of the Apostles in the New Testament.
