Competitors Must Follow

COMPETITORS MUST FOLLOW the rules—even rules they’re not totally aware of—if they want to end up in the winner’s circle. That fact proved to be true at the 2002 Daytona 500.

The 200-lap race went under a caution flag with just a handful of laps to go. The race was restarted at lap 195 with front-runners Jeff Gordon and Sterling Marlin battling for first place. Marlin went low on the track to pass Gordon, but Gordon blocked him and tangled with Marlin’s car. Gordon spun out, and Marlin’s fender was damaged in the collision. At the same time, another accident forced the race to go under the caution flag with Marlin in the lead. Soon the red flag went up and the high-powered machines came to a stop on the Daytona International Speedway as the accident was cleaned up.

With the race halted, Marlin jumped out of his window, ran around his car, and started pulling his fender away from his right front tire. NASCAR officials quickly ordered Marlin back into his vehicle. Then they forced him to start behind all the other cars in the lead lap because NASCAR rules state that cars can’t be worked on during a red flag.

Marlin’s goof meant he finished eighth, while Ward Burton benefited from Marlin’s mistake to win his first Daytona 500. Burton’s victory also marked the first time a Virginian had claimed NASCAR’s most prestigious race.

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POINT Sterling Marlin said he wasn’t aware of the red-flag rule when he tried to fix his car, but he still suffered the consequences. Every sport has rules to keep the athletes under control and competing on a level playing field. Without any rules, sports would be chaotic. Society has laws to maintain public tranquility as well.

God also has laws. We won’t lose a game if we break them, and we probably won’t go to jail for messing up on some of them. But not following God’s laws will mess up our relationship with Jesus Christ. Failing to follow God’s laws is called sin. Sin separates us from God. The cool thing is that when we break God’s laws we can ask for forgiveness and God will forget we messed up in the first place.

GOAL! Commit to reading the Bible to learn God’s rules. Then ask him to give you the wisdom to keep his laws.