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The 700 Club with Pat Robertson


AMAZING STORY

Trevor Bayne: Driven by Faith

By Shawn Brown
The 700 Club

CBN.com - 700 Club Sports Producer, Shawn Brown sat down for a chat with young race car driver, Trevor Bayne.

At the ripe old age of 21, Trevor Bayne is still a kid at heart.

Trevor: “I go eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s pretty chaotic at the races, actually.”

Just two days after he turned 20, Bayne became the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500.

Trevor: “And so that’s how I wanted to be. I wanted to be the young guy coming in and winning races. It felt like a dream, because you don’t feel anything. And you’re just looking at the flag and pulling down victory lane. And you realize that you’ve just won the biggest race there is to win.”

Shawn Brown: “Do you feel strange driving on a normal street after going 190 (MPH)?”

Trevor: “A little bit but it doesn’t seem that fast when you’re racing, until you start to crash, and then you realize that the wall is coming up really fast, and you’re going a lot faster than you think.  But then you get on the interstate and you want to go a little faster at times, so you’ve got to keep it in check.”

Shawn: “So do you get speeding tickets?”

Trevor: “I’ve had a couple, but none of them too crazy. They’re all like the silly five miles per hour or 10 miles over. The ones that really make you feel frustrated.”

Shawn: “No reckless record.

Trevor: “Not too reckless, now. I try to be careful on the roads.”

He started racing go carts at the age of 5, and has been on a winning streak for more than half of his life. But Trevor says his Christian upbringing helped him stay level headed about his numerous successes.

Trevor: “I grew up hearing about God and knowing about Jesus. But I guess it was around middle school when God started working on my heart and started showing me why Jesus came to earth and who I am in Him.” 

Some compare him to another role model in the world of sports.

Shawn: “I read a recent article that, hey, you want to be like Tim Tebow, which I, talking to you, I don’t think that’s exactly the case. But talk about it a little bit.”

Trevor: “We’re supposed to mold ourselves and look like Jesus, and walk as He did and have Him change our lives. So when there are two guys modeling themselves after the same Person, they’re going to look a lot alike. I think Tim Tebow is a great guy and he is a great role model for kids to look up to, but that’s not my only role model. My role model is Jesus and that’s Who I want to be like.”

Like Tebow, Bayne gives all the credit to God .

Trevor (in a clip from the 2011 Daytona 500): “God ’s just drawn us closer to Him in every experience and that’s what we prayed about before the race. Whether it was a good result or a bad result, we’d just be drawn closer, and He taught me something yesterday in that race. You never know what His plan is, but I can guarantee if you stick with Him, He’s going to have something good for you.”

Trevor: “I pray and I just say, ‘Whatever God has for us that day, let us have the best of our ability. Let us do everything we can to do our best, but if it’s not our day to win, then we won’t win.’  You know there are very few times I pray for favor, but sometimes I do. Sometimes I pray to win, and I think that was one of those days.”

Trevor’s faith was challenged after his big win at Daytona, when he was forced out of racing for five weeks. He spent time in the hospital, most likely suffering from Lyme disease.

Trevor: (On Twitter): “I got on there after I won the 500 and I was like, “God is so good.  This is awesome.” So, I’m laying there in the hospital bed, and that started sinking in, and I got on twitter and tweeted out, “You know what? I’m in the hospital, but God is still good.” But if it’s for that one person to see that things aren’t always perfect, that we’re going to go through struggles but Christ is right there, not changing, that’s what that’s all about. So I think there’s something we can learn out of everything. And that was what I really learned through that.”

He surrounds himself with a team that helps build his faith, and has taken time to write down encouraging thoughts as they come to him.

Trevor: “I got on my phone and just started writing down whatever I was thinking about. And I got some pretty good stuff out of it.” 

Shawn: “You still got it on your phone. Could you read that?”

Trevor: “I do. I do. You know I’m not exactly a great writer or anything but this is just kind of the thoughts I had when I was sitting there,  “Keep me humble. I am no longer racing for worldly advantages or things. I am racing for the kingdom. I drive to bring glory to Christ and I will give Him 100% in all that I do. This means a desire to win is not only okay, but necessary. Not for my name’s sake though. Not for me to gain the world or more fans, but for Jesus’ Name to be known. My heart eyes and mind will be set on heaven and there alone will I store my treasures.”

Shawn: “Did it work?”

Trevor: “It’s working so far. I gotta go back and read it every now and then, but I think it’s important, man – when He gives us something, write it down. I’ve been doing that a lot more and it’s helped me.”

His biography, Driven by Faith, teaches kids about NASCAR while telling them about his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Trevor: “It’s cool when you think about that you’re racing for something bigger than a trophy.  For me when I think about it being for kingdom purposes, and having treasures in heaven and not just here, that’s pretty big, man. That’s cool, that we get to race for Him and He’s glorified in it. I’m doing what I love to do and He’s receiving glory for it.”  

Whatever the future has in store for #21, big or small, Trevor Bayne plans to stay focused first on God .

Trevor: “You know that 500 was great for the day or for the last month after that. That was something that I will never forget. But something that’s going to stay with me a lot longer is Christ, and that relationship, and that choice to open my heart and say, ‘Here’s my life.  Use it.’”



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