Zeal!!

It was Saturday night in the summer time in Maine.  My dad came to me and asked, “Do you want to go to the races?”  Did I!?!!  There was so much excitement at the races, I couldn’t wait to get there.  These were stock car races; but not just any, these were races on a dirt track slicked with oil.  There was a special tactic to the driving on these tracks; the drivers had to intentionally swing the back of the car around to make it around the corners.  The smell of exhaust and oil filled the atmosphere.  The roaring of the engines, the sounds metal scraping against metal.  The spectacle of dust flying through the air and covering the track, while drivers did their best to maneuver through it with the hope that there wasn’t a car for them to collide with. 

Did I?!!  While certainly, the races were the main entertainment, this track was unique.  Unique because of its … flagman.  “A flagman?!” you say in disbelief.  Oh, yes, the flagman.  [Harold “Lefty” Ellis]  At normal tracks, the flagman stands on a podium of sorts and waves the different flags from that vantage point.  But not this flagman.  When cars lined up at the start line, he would position himself between the first two cars with his green and yellow flags rolled up.  He would point one to the car on the right, and one to the car on the left.  When both drivers nodded, he would twirl the flags over his head.  That was his way of indicating it was time for them to take the pace lap.  As the cars started their first pace lap, he would walk down the center of the cars.  They would part as they approached him, then close back together once they had passed him.

Copied from Facebook Page for Beech Ridge Motor Speedway

At the end of the pace lap, tensions mounted between the first two drivers.  If one launched before the other, the flagman would wave the yellow flag to indicate that once of the drivers had a “false start.”  Otherwise, they give it their all to charge to the front of the pack.  The flagman would on the edge of track at this point, and as soon as he made the decision, he would leap into the air are vehemently wave the green flag.  Alternatively, he we just drop the yellow flag from its folded position.

At times, the flagman be ready to wave a flag and walk to the edge of the track, when a car would spin out, roll over, or collide with another right at the flagstand, which was a concrete slab with a handrail attached to it.  The flagman would run up a nearby pile of dirt, put there for his protection, or climb the handrail and light pole at the flagstand. 

While some racetracks had mediocre flagman who would wave the flag from their post with zeal, this track’s flagman was over-the-top zealous!  He made the simple task of waving a flag into a perilous act of treachery and athleticism.  He put his all into this seemingly mediocre task to bring the attendees a dazzling spectacle of dangerous antics.

What about you?  How much enthusiasm do you put into the aspects of your life?  Are you an Eeyore, one who always focuses on the disappointments in life?  Perhaps you’re a chair umpire, where you see both sides and just make the calls as you see them?

Recently, in our church, the pastor gave a brief enthusiastic, inspirational talk and asked the audience if they agreed.  A few meager “Amens” could be heard around the Sanctuary.  Next, a man stood up to speak about how the Lord healed him from diabetes.  As he took the microphone from the pastor, he said, (I’m paraphrasing), “Where is your enthusiasm?  This isn’t a funeral, this is Church!  Be excited to be here!”

Psalm 8 says this:

To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.

1  O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2  Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3  When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4  What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

5  For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6  You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7  All sheep and oxen—Even the beasts of the field,

8  The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9  O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

From The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.

We each express our excitement and zeal in different ways, but when we let the Holy Spirit fill us, our exuberance is released.  Do you have an image of the good Christian as a somber monk living meagerly in a dimly lit room without uttering a word wearing a burlap frock?  That lifestyle is respectable if the monk is submitting himself to the Lord; but, Jesus sets an example of interacting with those in the world.  One of my favorite stories is when Jesus says to Zaccheus, “Come down from that tree because I’m going to stay at your house today!”  How quickly must Zaccheus must have climbed down from the tree to meet Jesus in person!  I encourage you to peer into your soul and discover what is inhibiting your zeal for the Lord!!