Why do you have Jesus on the car?
Andrew Fisher: Well it is a funny story really – being a Christian I am obviously always questioning how 'real' my faith is and how I live it out in my life everyday. I happened to mention this to my wife in regards to my motor racing exploits.
I was thinking of putting a fish (a Christian symbol) on the back of the Ute or having a 'Christian' nickname (you have to choose a nick name in the Ute series) and she challenged me by saying, "Well if you really want to make a statement why don't you advertise the 'Jesus. All about Life' campaign on the Ute?"
We have been financial supporters of the 'Jesus. All about Life' program and have been impressed with it's format and relevance.
As you can imagine I really appreciated her input to the situation for two reasons. Firstly, it left me nowhere to hide, I could no longer just carry Jesus as a 'back pack' into the motor sport community – I would forever be labelled as the 'Christian' guy.
Secondly, it took away any chance of raising funds for sponsorship from mainstream secular companies as this would confuse the message too much.
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Given how expensive motor sport is, this was a really significant issue. However the damage was already done and the challenge was laid out before me and so after talking with Karl Faase and Martin Johnson, Directors of the 'Jesus. All about Life' program, I decided to go ahead.
What are you trying to do?
I want to live my faith out in a practical sense. I love motor racing and feel privileged to be able to compete at the level I do, however I also love the Lord Jesus Christ, so to bring my two loves together is very exciting. The 'Jesus. All about Life' program is a perfect bridge between the two areas of my life because it is not about doom and gloom and persecution.
The 'Jesus. All about Life' message is about the availability of Jesus for everyone. I was lucky and grew up in a church and was introduced to Jesus by my family, sure I lived through the normal trials of life, however I had an inbuilt belief in Jesus that strengthened me.
Many people in Australia today have no idea of who the ‘real’ Jesus is, we hear about the Jesus projected by the media or the extremists but not the real Jesus, so the 'Jesus. All about Life' campaign is about getting the message out there in a non-confronting way. It's about providing some material and some opportunities through events in the local community for the everyday person to explore it for themselves.
So who is Jesus?
You know that is an interesting question - hard to explain even to my five year old daughter who just the other night asked her mother, "so who is God's wife?"
My wife answered this easy question with, "God does not have a wife darling."
(My wife did not see the next question coming).
"But Mummy, if God does not have a wife how can he have a baby called Jesus?"
My wife called out for me to come and help with the answer - I sat in the lounge room pretending not to hear, thinking to myself, "that will teach you for not just going with the 'Christian fish symbol on the Ute idea', you're on your own (my love)!"
But seriously what a great question from someone who has no agenda on the topic at all. How is it that Jesus came to be?
My belief is that Jesus is the son of God, part of the Holy Trinity of God (Father), Son and Holy Spirit. I have often looked at the historical evidence of Jesus living over 2,000 years ago.
There are many non-Biblical references about Jesus living on this earth. I looked at the documented miracles he performed, once again not just recorded by Christians. I looked at his death once again recorded by others other than Christians and then I looked at the resurrection (not so often recorded in non-Christian texts!).
Jesus often pointed to his death and resurrection as he spoke to people. He declared that he was the Son of God. He told us that he was sent to die that he can reunite us with God.
He told us that he would rise from the dead after 3 days and would go and prepare a place for us with his Father and that if we believe in him and accept him as our Lord he will vouch for us when our time comes.
So having read this I was left with a decision, was Jesus the Lord as he professed, or was he a liar or a lunatic?
To answer this I looked at two things. The first is the events that happened after his death.
Why was it that so many people professed to see him and experience him after his death? Why was it that his body was never found by the authorities that opposed the Christian movement.
Remember that Jesus was taken very seriously, they had just crucified him very publicly on a cross for all to see.
Click on these links to read more about Jesus.
Answers from the Power to Change web site
The second is why was it that such a small group of people who professed to have received the 'Holy Spirit' from Jesus were able to establish and sustain through immense persecution (most of the early believers where killed) the faith that around 1 billion people worldwide believe in today, if it were not for the truth that they had experienced!
Even today I see so many people's lives transformed from the simple belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ into their life.
My personal experience is enough to convince me that I have made the right choice however being one that does not suffer fools, it has been good to explore the deeper issues around my faith.
How can I get involved?
There are several ways, the first is to explore your beliefs, take the time to have a look into Christianity, speak with someone who is a Christian or click on the links in the last section for some reading material.
If you are from a church, get some information as to how your church can get involved in the 'Jesus. All about Life' program by clicking on this JAAL link - Jesus. All about life. Please also encourage your church to pray for this program.
As I mentioned earlier, motor sport is an expensive sport and given that we do not charge 'Jesus. All about Life' for the exposure and that it greatly restricts our efforts to gain corporate sponsorship, we would greatly appreciate any support you can provide.
Simply click here to make a donation to the 'Jesus. All about Life' program. All funds raised may be used to offset the costs of this campaign and donations are tax deductible.
Finally let me encourage you to send us your thoughts, we will endeavour to write back to as many as you as soon as possible. Click here to go to our contact form.
I trust you also will find that Jesus is 'all about life'.
Andrew Fisher
