Don’t Quit: Staying Strong in the Race of Faith*

Life is filled with challenges that tempt us to give up. Hebrews 12:1–4 calls us to stay strong in faith by fixing our eyes on Jesus. In this message, Pastor Chris Teien shares encouragement to let go of distractions, endure hardship, and keep moving forward with hope and courage. 

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335680

Key Points:

1. You are being watched – Your faith inspires others, just as the heroes of Hebrews 11 encourage us today.
2. Let go of what holds you back – Lay aside sin, pride, and even good things that can weigh you down.
3. Stay strong in Christ – The race of faith begins with salvation and continues with daily focus on Jesus.
4. Keep your eyes on the Champion – Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him and now strengthens us to endure.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:
 Pastor Chris shares about an icy day with a church truck hood flying open, a vivid reminder that the examples of others can give us courage in unexpected struggles. He also talks about everyday weights like sports, possessions, or personal pursuits that can distract us from God’s call.

Notable Quotes:
 “Don’t quit, because Jesus has already endured the cross for you.”
 “Even good things become hindrances when they take the place of God’s best.”
 “Your faith is not just about you—it encourages others who are watching.”

Actionable Takeaways:

• Reflect: Am I trying to please people or to honor Christ?
• Apply: Identify one weight or distraction you need to set aside this week.
• Grow: Fix your eyes on Jesus daily through prayer and Scripture.
• Act: Share your story to encourage someone else’s faith.

Scripture References:
 Hebrews 12:1–4, John 3:16, John 3:36, Romans 6:23, 1 John 2:16, 1 John 5:11–13

Keywords: faith, endurance, don’t quit, Hebrews 12, perseverance, focus on Jesus, Christian strength, staying strong

Challenge:
 Stay strong in the race of faith. Don’t quit. Fix your eyes on Jesus and keep moving forward with endurance and hope.

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The WELL Faith Podcast offers encouraging, Bible-based messages from Pastor Chris Teien and guests. New sermons are released every Sunday. Replay episodes are marked with an asterisk. Find us online at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.Church in Virginia, MN. Email comments to wellfaith24@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:16

So the heroes of the faith chapter from Hebrews chapter 11, how to run the race of faith with focus and endurance. So if you had your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 through 4. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses for the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up, and let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion, who initiates and perfects our faith, because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, then you won't become weary and give up. So in the time that we have, I wanted to share with you some encouragement to keep running that race. All of our races are different. So many of you, you start your race, you get up in the morning and you get in your car and you drive for an hour to get to work. Then you do your work and then you get in the car and you drive for an hour again to get home. That's part of your race. And some of you have asked for good resources for audio podcasts, using your time wisely. So your race and my race are different, but we all need to be racing toward Christ, towards eternity. Know that everything we do in this life matters. We need to run the race of faith with focus and endurance. It's a race for heaven. It's a race for abundant and eternal life. It's a race to be with God forever. It's a race to take those people we care about with us by sharing our faith. It's a race to live a better life, a perfect Christian life, if that's possible. It's a race to help others find justice and to be godly and to care for others and to show Christ's life. It is a Christian race that God has given us. And again, our race is different. So, number one, know you are being watched. Know you are being watched. Hebrews 12, 1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, so it says, therefore, so you always gotta always have to ask yourself, what is there for? And that's to look back at the rest of Hebrews chapter 11 that we talked about, all those people in the Old Testament that were faithful to live out their lives, all these people, Gideon and Samson and David and Samuel, and these people we talked about over the past weeks, that were faithful to serve God, faithful to live a life. They suffered opposition and persecution and difficulty and had all sorts of problems. Think about Daniel. I think about Daniel because he was told not to pray. Now I've read that all the football coaches are told they're not allowed to pray publicly on the sidelines of the high school football teams and stuff. And Franklin Graham has sent out this thing that said, I encourage all high school football coaches to pray publicly. So take a stand. Don't be told you can't pray. But these people in the past, this cloud of witnesses, were faithful and they made it through. Now, I don't know if you know the people who have died that have gone on before us can actually look down and see what you're doing right now. But I do know that even we have the ability to watch amazing plays from football, hockey, everything from a long time ago. One of my sons, it was funny, it was we were watching ESPN Classic, and he was younger, didn't know it was ESPN Classic. And so I'm watching it for a minute, and I take my phone and I'm like, okay, who won this game? And I go back and I said, I bet at the very end of the fourth quarter, they make a touchdown and win. And then they do something. How did you know that?

unknown 3:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

Well, there's this ESPN classic. Think about it, it's summertime. We're watching football. Something's not right here. It's a recorded game. So, anyway, know you were being watched because God sees everything you do. The saints before you will probably be able to see highlight reels of your life and those faithful plays. And the people around you are watching. Your family, your friends, your neighbors, the people around you are watching. Not just when you totally succeed, but how do you handle failure? How do you handle hardship? How do you handle difficulty and death and all those difficulties? Know you are being watched and you can inspire others. Know you're being watched and you can encourage others. Now I started to think about it. Think about in your lifetime, what is the largest crowd that you've ever performed before? I was thinking about it, and I haven't really performed before a large crowd per se. But I remember when I was, it was like sixth grade or something like that. I was at the small school and I played the saxophone and band, and they were invited. This was in Colorado, they're invited, the school was to march in the homecoming parade with all the marching bands doing all their movements and marching all around and everything. And the school didn't really have enough senior hires to make it happen. So they're like, hey, you can play. I think it was sixth grade. You can go too. I did the little marching thing when I was in sixth grade. So maybe I look like a short high schooler. But that was a very large Coliseum filled with all the Air Force people. I think it was Air Force and Army of that day, but I'm not sure who they were playing. But anyway, that was the largest crowd I can remember. And so sometimes you look at the crowd and you think, those people are my fans. And other times you look at the crowd and say, All those people are there to watch me mess up and laugh at me. And other times you ignore all those people and say, okay, if I just follow the people next to me and do the right thing, this is all gonna work out fine. And that's basically what I did is it just marched behind the person that was in front of me, did what they did, and it worked okay. So know you were being watched. God sees everything that you do, and it can make a difference in someone's life. So the way that you handle difficulty, the way that you handle hardship, the way that you endure or make something happens, give people around you the opportunity to say, I can do that. Wait, I saw someone do this. This isn't a tragedy because this has happened before. So remember a long time ago, we were praying and praying for a church truck, and someone donated that church truck, the white one that we had for 10 years. It was an ice storm and it was really cold and icy, obviously, and the truck was coated with ice. I couldn't get it off. Someone's car was broken down, so it was after church. I went to their house, jump started their car, put the hood down. I tried to make sure it was down. As far as I knew, it was down. Then I was going out to someone else's house in Jordan to be helpful, and I'm going down the highway, and there's like chunks of ice flying off the truck. But there wasn't that many people behind me, so it wasn't a big deal. But I was like watching like a sheet of ice go over the top of the truck. You'd see it through the rear view mirror, and it like hit the ground. And I'm like, well, that's one way to get ice off the truck. And then eventually I heard this big boom, the rear view mirror went flying past my head into the back seat, and everything in front of me was white. Turns out that the hood had flipped up and was covering the windshield. And I thought to myself, this isn't a problem because I've seen this before. We were out at the raceway, I think it was out at Arlington, and one of the people racing, their hood flipped up, and they did the whole race with the hood up over the windshield, but I'm pretty sure they could see like underneath. Besides that, you just go fast and turn left anyway. But so the hood's up around the windshield on the truck, and so they did the most important thing. First, I put down my coffee because that's important in the winter, and then I looked around, and then I used the rear view side mirror to on the fog line to pull the truck over. You weren't able to see out like in the races, you know, the other people that were able to see under the windshield, you couldn't see anything. And then I got out, jumped onto the roof, took my feet, kicked the hood down, strapped it down, drove it back to town, and then later in the week went to a junkyard. Or actually, we made an insurance plan, got the check. That was helpful. Then went to a junkyard, got a hood, put the hood on, and put it all back together and everything. But the reason that I was able to go, oh, the hood's wrapped around and I can't see anything. It's gonna be okay, is because I watched someone else do it. I watched someone else do an entire race with their hood up over their windshield, and it's like, okay, this can be done. I've seen it. And the same thing is true in your Christian life. People see you go through hard stuff and they're like, I don't know how they did it, but it must be able to be done because they're not even that smart, but they were able to do that, or they're not even that faithful, but they were able to do that. So you can learn a lot by watching others. You can learn a lot by biographies, by listening to the stories or reading the stories of Christians before you. I was listening to an audio book while I was at the fitness center. It was 10 things every minister should know by Ronnie Floyd. He's a pastor down south. Just listening to the stuff that he's able to do the time that how he gets up so early in the morning, he works out for an hour before he goes to church to deliver his message repeatedly and all these things. I look at the way he runs his race, and I'm like, man, I'm just tired reading about it. But you can be inspired, you can encourage each other. Sometimes you can lead other people into sin or into compromise or into giving up. I was trying to encourage somebody who's having some marriage problems, and it's tough. It seems like the marriage can't be saved, but it can, and God can do amazing things. And I was trying to encourage this person. I'm like, well, I said, pray, trust God, do all that you can to be forgiving and to get help. And I understand what you're going through and somewhat. But I said, don't be quick to give up and don't be quick to listen to those other friends around you that are quick to tell you to give up, especially the divorced ones that already gave up. Now there are reasons for divorce, and if you're divorced, it's not the end of the world or anything like that. But I'm just saying that some of those people that have already gone that route are quick to tell you to just give it up and move on. And maybe God wants you to hold on and to pray and to wait and to see what can be done, not to give up so quickly. So know you're being watched. Number two, get rid of the stuff that slows you down. So if you're out there running and you're trying to get a faster time and everything, sometimes it's what you're carrying that makes you go slower. Sometimes what you're carrying can make you go, make you stronger. I read of a guy that wanted to lose a lot of weight, so he was walking and jogging, and he got a weight vest. So every pound of weight, every pound of fat, or every maybe muscle, probably probably fat, every pound he lost, he put in one that pound in his weight vest. So he lost 50 pounds. Eventually he was carrying around a 50-pound weight vest. I'm not sure if that's a great idea or not. It sounds really hard on your knees, but maybe even your back. But this is what he did. And then when it was time for him to run a race, he was stronger, he was faster, he was able to endure. But get rid of the stuff that slows you down. Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. You'll find that as you are thinking about the self-denying life, as the things you think about the things that you need to get rid of to run the race God has called you to do, to be more effective, to be more focused, that even some of the good things that you thought you really wanted will be things that you give up. Think about it. If God has called you to serve Him and He's called you to serve Him specifically on a Sunday, maybe you have an active part on the worship team or an active part in church ministry, but you also happen to get Viking season tickets, and the Vikings were really a great team that you wanted to see, and you thought, well, if I were to serve God in the way he had called me, I'd have to give up going to see those Vikings games. Now you can record them. You could probably go to a church that met on Saturday too, but don't do that. Don't keep coming to this one. But nonetheless, think about the things that you might have to give up. Think about the things that might not be exactly what God has for you. Sometimes you change your career, sometimes you sell your house and get a different one. 1 John 2.16 says, For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and a pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from the world. So physical pleasure, the things that we lust after, the experiences, the feelings. Sometimes your life can be hindered and pulled down by the things that you focus on, the things that you idolize, pornography, things like that can slow you down, trip you up, mess you up, a craving for everything we see. So we see stuff and it's like, oh, I've got to have that. I want that. You go to the car lot, you see a new truck, and it's like, I can't live without that. I've got to have that new vehicle. I just read that one of the big auto companies wants to sell more cars. So they're gonna now offer loans without taking into consideration how bad your credit is. That's helpful. Let's sell them a car they can't afford and just expect that they're gonna pay it off. So they have terrible credit, but we've got a car for them. So maybe that's helpful. I don't know. Maybe that's a good thing, but nonetheless, it can trip you up if you've got a car you idolize, a car that the payments are sinking you a car or a house or even a career that keeps you from doing God's best in your life. So we've got a craving for everything we see. We see houses, we see cars, we see possessions, we see watches, we see people that are perfectly fit, we see people that have those goat skin Bibles that are like$200. But hey, that's spiritual. So you gotta have one of those, right? So I don't know what gets you excited and thinks makes you think I need to spend a lot of money on that, but just know that God sees, God knows, and you want to make sure that it's not gonna hinder you, slow you down. And a pride in our achievements and possessions where we talk about all the stuff we have. I'm pretty guilty of that. I think a lot of us are. So sometimes we get together, talk about cars we had, cars we wanted to have, cars a friend had that we got to ride in, things like that. Maybe women get together and talk about purses they had, purses friends have, and purses that they would love to get if they had enough money. Be careful though, because sometimes it's counterfeit. So I know someone that thought they were buying a coach purse, and it turned out it was a couch purse. It was just a little knockoff. So anyway, it can happen. So don't let that stuff slow you down or hinder you. So actually, in this race that we're running, the race that God has for us, it's more of an endurance race than sprinting. But we need to know that we are going to be tempted in every way to be sidetracked, to be entangled in sin, to do things that aren't the best. And we have to think about okay, what is God's best for my time, for my life, for the things that I watch, for the things that I listen to? What is God's best? And what am I willing to give up? What am I willing to get rid of for God's best in my life? But just think about those things that you would give up and think about the things that maybe you've messed up. Maybe you've done some stuff that is just so bad. Maybe you've failed, maybe you tried to do things and it didn't work. Maybe you tried to serve God and it didn't work. Maybe you think you've sinned to the point that you can't go on anymore. Know that God can overcome, that you can overcome failure, that no matter how old you are or what your condition is in life or what you are doing or not doing, that you can move forward.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Rejected by the USC Film School three times. Steven Spielberg. Turned down by 27 different publishers.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

Dr. Seuss.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Called lazy and good for nothing by his own father. Joe DiMaggio. Parents and teachers worried he was mentally handicapped because he didn't speak until he was four and didn't read until he was seven. Albert Einstein failed to land a role when trying to break into film because the director said she was too ugly.

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Meryl Street.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

After his first performance, he was told, You ain't going nowhere, son. You want to go back to driving a truck. Mostly ignored in her lifetime, only a few of her almost 1,800 completed works were ever published.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Emily Dickinson.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

He did poorly in school. He stuttered and spoke with a lisp, and his parents all but ignored him, regarding him as a disappointment, a boy of low intelligence. Winston Churchill.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

He fell in a hole, and he couldn't get out. A traveler passed by. He told the man to meditate, to purify his mind, and when he reached Nirvana, all suffering would cease. The man did as he was told, but he remained in the hole. Another man appeared. He explained that the hole didn't exist. And neither, in fact, did the man. It was all an illusion. The man who did not exist was still stuck in the hole that was not there. Another visitor arrived. He instructed the man to perform good deeds to improve his karma, and though he would still die in the hole, he might be reincarnated as something magnificent. Another man looked down from above. He taught the man to pray five times a day facing east and to follow five important tenets. If he was faithful, one day, perhaps, divine would start him free. The man prayed as best he could, but he was losing strength. And in the hold he remained. Another man appeared. There was something different about him. He called down to the man in the hole and asked him if he wanted to be free. This man lowered himself into the pit. He took hold of the man and dragged him into the light. The man in the hole, who could not get himself out, was saved.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

We see that we can overcome failure, we can be rejected, and that we can still be used, that we can keep moving forward, and that God can still use us, but we need to be sure that we're running the right race. Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. And part of that race, the most important thing is that we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We know that God so loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. So that means there is an opportunity. That's how you register for the race. If there is a race going on in town and you're not registered for it, and you jump in at the beginning and you cross the finish line first, you won't get any recognition or reward because you were never registered for the race. What if you get to the end of your life and Jesus says, I never knew you because you never placed your faith in Christ? Matter of fact, John 3 36, if you were in John 3, read down a little more, it says, Anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but remains under God's angry judgment. So Romans 6 23 says, The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. So have you received Christ? Have you asked Christ to come into your life and to save you? Are you have you entered the race? 1 John 5 11, and this is what God has testified. He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life, but who does not have God's Son does not have life. I have written this to you so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. So have you received Christ? I did it one by praying, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin and come into my life and save me. I know you died on the cross and rose again. Make me the person you created me to be. And if you ask Christ into your life, then you become born again, a new creation, our assured heaven. Get the Holy Spirit to help you live the Christian life and so many more things. There's a New Believer's New Testament on the back table that will help you with that. And we would love to connect with you and help you grow in your Christian life. Number four, focus on the champion. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. So we have Jesus, the one who started the race, who lived before us, who lived a perfect race, lived a perfect sinless life, died, rose again, and is a great model, perfect model for us to follow. So you want to know what Jesus is like? Look in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And you will see how he dealt with people, how he cared for people. He didn't try to do Everything. A matter of fact, how many disciples did he have? He had 12, and one was unreliable. Jesus often took time to rest. He often prayed long periods of time before doing things. And so often we think that we don't measure up, we can't do anything. But when we step up, when we show up and we ask God to help us, we can endure, we can persevere, we can be successful, we can be runners that actually finish the race and can even finish the race well. So your race and my race are different. So it's tough to compare your race and my race. So we need to focus on Jesus. Please the audience of one more than trying to please the people around you. Fear of man proves to be a snare, the Bible says. Hebrews 12, 2, because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne, God's throne. So he looked forward to that, and that should push us on too. These all these people in the picture are running in hopes to get to the finish line, in hopes to say they finished. Maybe you get a t-shirt. One of the reasons that I'm afraid actually to run a race like that is because I see they post everybody's time on the internet. You Google search me, I didn't want to want you to see how slow I ran or whatever. So maybe you can enter with a different name. But God knows who you are, and God wants you to finish the race and you look forward to seeing Jesus. Some people look forward and they're like, Oh, that sounds terrifying. But if you've been faithful to serve Jesus, you will be excited to see him face to face. And I'm gonna show you this video at the very end because we started late actually. So you came in late, so I'm gonna keep you just a little late so you can watch this encouraging video. Hey, what's fair is fair? You want to end on time, you got to get here on time. So number six, don't expect it to be easy. Don't expect your race to be easy. If someone told you if you become a Christian, your sins will be forgiven. God will provide everything you need easily, your life will be blessed, it will be easy, no worries. What a great way to live. No, no, if you were here last week, you heard that those people that are godly should expect to be persecuted. That Jesus said if they mistreated and persecuted me, of course they're gonna do it to you. For some reason the audio is messed up from last week, so it's not online. But we learned that there are lots of people in Hebrews chapter 11 that were persecuted for their faith, even Sodom, too, but yet they were still faithful. Don't expect it to be easy. Think of all the hostility Jesus endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. So don't expect it to be easy. Don't expect everybody to like you. Don't expect to be popular. Don't expect that people are gonna be excited to see you reading your Bible or sharing Bible verses, or if you're a coach, you know, praying with your team or whatever. Don't expect that. I mean, there was a time in American history where maybe that was more popular than it's becoming, but it seems to be less and less a good welcome thing. But and also don't just surround yourself by everybody that likes what you do, you know, because we can get ourselves in a little Christian bubble and say, well, they like it when I do this, and I'm just gonna stay with them, and I'm not even gonna reach out to those people. Matter of fact, instead of going to the break table for lunch at work, I'm just gonna go with my little group and we'll just go sit outside and be away from all those wicked heathens. That's probably not a good way to live your Christian life. Instead, engage those people, figure out what their objections are, learn about apologetics, defending your faith, ask them questions and try to lead them to faith in Christ. Plant seeds and pray for them. Don't expect it to be easy. And then again, 2 Timothy 3 12 says, Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but evil people and impostors will flourish, they will deceive others, and they themselves will be deceived. So Paul knew about this race. He was in prison, he went through all these hard things, and at the end of his life, he says in 2 Timothy 4 7, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful, and now the prize awaits me, the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. So we look forward to Christ's returning. We live the Christian life knowing that our life isn't in vain. We continue to struggle and push forward no matter what we've done or where we've been, knowing that God can forgive and he can actually use our past, our harsh past, our difficult past, or sad past, or grieving past, our sinful past for his good to move forward. So I have this video, it's three minutes long from Sam Hornish Jr., a professional racer.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

I'm gonna show the video, then the worship team is gonna come up time, IndyCar Series champion, an Indianapolis 500 winner. And I'm just an average Joe, and I've got a game plan for life. I won the 2006 Indianapolis 500. At that point in time, it was the only time that there was ever a pass in the last lap for the win. It was the second closest finish. And for me, it was a crowning achievement as far as an occupational side of my life because as a kid growing up, I knew that I someday wanted to race at the Indianapolis 500. The biggest thing for me after I won that crowning achievement was what is next? What else do I want to do? I said, I want to try something new. I want to jump in the deep end again, and I want to go over and try my hand at NASCAR. Also, at that same time, I became a father for the first time. So there was a lot of changes for me that happened at that point in time. I went through some pretty difficult times as far as being a race car driver. And I look at each challenge that has come in my racing career, and I've put it in perspective, and have really tried to be able to maintain a good, even balance, and always try to figure out what was going to be the next thing. I look at each one of these goals and setbacks that I've had as a blessing in their own right because some things teach me and you take away that what you can do better than the other ones you have to learn on, you know, really what you're gonna try to do and basically where God wants you to be. As I grew up and I became successful, there was times where it was hard. And I don't think that it's something that you do one time. It's a giving yourself to Christ every day because things change in your life. You you wander, and the biggest thing that to me is that you want to come continue to come back and to try to continue to do the right things and to move yourself along and to better yourself as a human being as you go, because it's not just a okay, I did this one day and I'm gonna go on and live the rest of my life. It's over with. It's a commitment that you're making to not only God, but to yourself as well. I feel like one of the things that we're most called to do as men is to take care of the people that we love and most especially our family. As I continue to try to immerse myself more in understanding what the plan is for my life and the things that I'm supposed to do, it allows me to understand where I'm supposed to be at as far as a family man and a man of Christ and to be able to teach my kids the right things. And it's sometimes teaching your wife as well. And it's sometimes being able to see what is being taught to you from them. There's never been a time in history that's better than right now to be able to get yourself in trouble. But then again, all the answers is just as easy. I can pick out my phone, I have an app, I can go and look through any part of the Bible, I can Google search things to try to figure out, you know, what's the answer here, and I can read through and digest and try to do it. But at the end of the day, a lot of it comes from heart and from the feeling of being able to go and to have a good sounding board of having good people around you or even having a book to pick up, like the game's plan for life, and to be able to figure out, you know, this is what these things mean to you. And 80 different people can pick up that book and get 80 different things out of it. There was a pretty good time frame of about six months after I won the Indianapolis 500 to about a year and a half after that, of where I didn't do all the things in the right way, and I didn't do a lot of the things in the right way. But I went from really being on top of the world to really feeling like there was a lot of days that couldn't get you know much worse. The things that I always had to remember and had reminded me is that I had great people around me and I had a lot to look forward to in life and to be realistic about what things were and to be realistic to myself on who I was. Whatever you do, you know, do it with all your heart is working for the Lord your God and not for earthly men. And I've always tried to think about that, but it's really hit home to me a lot lately, and a lot of times I took that as a consideration of I was gonna go out there and I was gonna be the best race car driver that I can be. It's not about that, it's being the best human being I can be, being the best dad I can be, trying to be the best husband that I can be. One of the tough questions I've gotten a lot lately is what are your long-term goals? And when people ask me that question, they want to know where I want to be as far as being a race car driver. But my long term goals are setting the right example for my wife and my children to lead them the best way that I can to be saved themselves. It's something that I can't make any of them do. It's I've got to lead by example, and I think that's the best goal that I could ever have.