A LIFE WELL LIVED

Tonight while grabbing the latest ESPN highlights I uncovered the remarkable story of JD Gibbs.  Having lived in Charlotte, NC for nearly 4 years I’ve become increasing familiar with the wild world that is NASCAR racing.  So as I scanned through the highlight headlines the name of Charlotte race team owner Joe Gibbs caught my attention.

As is so often the case, what began as a 3 minute video clip turned into hours of watching other video clips and of me trying to uncover information about the life of JD Gibbs, much of it from a website decicated in his honor. What I discovered is this...

The Joe Gibbs Racing team recently won the Daytona 500 this past weekend.  Not only that they swept the podium with drivers finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  This all after the dust settled on a nasty twenty-one car pile-up on lap 190 out of 200, forcing much of the lead group to end the day early.  The team owner and company name sake called these events providential as the winning car driven by Denny Hamlin (a driver discovered by JD a few years back) even sported JD’s favorite number 11 and a special decal honoring his recent passing.  JD died just last month after a 4 year battle with a debilitating brain condition.  The recent Daytona contest was the first race since his passing and the team has dedicated the win to their former fearless leader.

JD Gibbs is the son of former NFL football coach Joe Gibbs. He became a Christian through the ministry of Young Life, passionately loved his God, his family and other people.  He played football in college then joined his father’s fledgling NASCAR team in the 90s.  He started as a pit mechanic, turned driver and ended up as the co-founder and president of the team before being diagnosed with a debilitating brain condition in 2015.  He married his high school sweetheart and together they have 4 sons. The youngest, Taylor, even had a long battle with cancer at the age of 3.  JD lived out a faith that was real, appealing and contagious.   The aroma of his life and the way he loved others right where they were and how they were is an incredible testimony of God’s real, appealing and contagious love for you and I right where we are.  I love what JD’s family has written on his website about the goodness of God in all things in the image at the beginning of this article.

Read more from JD’s dad on walking through adversity by clicking here