It's Time for a Pit Stop

A

mericans are a sports-loving people. I don’t know of another country where you can watch sports non-stop, twenty-four hours per day. Whether you like football, hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, or water polo, there is no difficulty in finding it on television.

I am reminded of this fact promptly every weekend.  Saturday and Sunday afternoons are very popular here in the dorm as guys from all over the world gather in front of television sets to watch their favorite sporting events. In addition to baseball, football, and basketball, there is another sport that enjoys great popularity.  The sport is auto racing, affectionately known as NASCAR.  Millions of people each year make the racing circuit, following their favorite drivers around the country.  Indeed, some of these fans are so dedicated that they take several months out of their lives just to attend every racing event in the season.

All racetracks have one thing in common.  Even though they differ in their layouts and their lengths, they all have an area known as the pit.  Each driver has a pit crew, headed by a crew chief, and their job is to ensure that the driver and the car remain in top-notch condition.  Several times during a race, the driver communicates with his crew chief and tells him about the car’s status, the level of fuel, and the condition of his tires.  At certain points during the race, the driver turns off the main track and enters the pit.  During this “pit stop”, the car is refueled. It receives new tires, the windshield is cleaned, minor adjustments are made, and the driver is given a quick snack. In the event a car is damaged, the pit can be used to make repairs and return the car to the racetrack.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that the concept of the “pit stop” actually has biblical foundation.  In fact, long before the advent of the automobile, and long, long before men decided it would be fun to race them at break-neck speeds, God established the idea of the pit stop.  Its purpose was to provide a time of rest from life’s rat race and a place to repair the damage that inevitably comes from the constant buffeting and collision along life’s highway.

In 1 Kings 17:3-4 we find one of the first pit stops recorded.  The prophet Elijah, just returning from a confrontation with King Ahab, receives instructions to turn enter the pit for a time of rest and repair.  King Ahab did not obey the Lord, but did evil in his sight.  As a result, God withheld rain for three years and He gave Elijah the task of telling Ahab this ominous news.  Just after this meeting, God gives Elijah the following instructions: “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. “And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

There are three wonderful pieces of advice tucked away in these two small passages.  First, we must get off the beaten path.  God tells Elijah very plainly his situation and He tells him to go away for a time of rest.  We cannot experience God’s peace and restoration if we insist on remaining in situations that constantly frustrate us and keep us under stress. 

Second, we are to hide ourselves from the world outside.  We can’t take ourselves completely out of the every-day mainstream of life, although that’s what Elijah did, but we can set aside a substantial amount of time where we get alone.  It is in this place and during this time that God can repair us and restore.  When we keep ourselves in the thick of life’s fray, we take no time to let God work in our lives.  We must get away and hide for Him to work on us.

Third, God provides all that we need.  It is not up to us to provide for ourselves—we can’t.  Just like the driver in the racecar, all we can do is communicate with our crew chief and listen to the instructions He gives.  The crew chief knows all about the car and the driver and he knows when they both need attention and maintenance. God knows even more about us.  He knows when we are weary.  He knows when we need to be repaired and when we need to be maintained.  He also knows that the only way to do this is to get us still, off the beaten racetrack of life and into the pits where He can work on us.

In the pit, the crew chief has everything necessary to maintain the car and return it to the track in perfect running condition.  Everything about that car and its driver is under his constant watch and care.  Why do we believe God would act any differently with us?  We are not pieces of metal running around a track.  We are His creation, His children, and the apple of His eye.  Today as you run life’s race, pay attention to that little voice in your ear.  Do you hear God calling you in for a pit stop?  Believe me, He’s not doing it to take you out of the race; He is doing it so you can stay in the race and see it to its end.