Michael Waltrip was about to claim his first victory in his 463rd career start. Dale Earnhardt Jr., the team owner's son and one of NASCAR's up-and-coming stars, was running a close second. And the team owner, Dale Earnhardt Sr., was fighting for third. But in an instant, the DEI racing team's celebration turned to mourning.

About a half-mile from the finish, between turns three and four, Earnhardt's Chevy appeared to clip Sterling Marlin's Dodge and lost control. The #3 car veered up the track, was hit by another car driven by Ken Schrader, and slammed into the wall of Turn 4 at approximately 180 mph. Earnhardt and Schrader's cars skidded to a halt at the bottom of the track, while Michael Waltrip crossed the finish line to win the 43rd Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

Earnhardt, who won the 1998 Daytona 500, was unconscious when he was cut from his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. According to published reports, "The Intimidator" never regained consciousness after the high-speed collision. After being extracted from his race car, Earnhardt was rushed to the Halifax Medical Center. With wife Teresa at his side, doctors worked for some 20 minutes attempting to resuscitate the 49-year-old father of four. One of the first doctors at the scene, Steve Bohannon, said Earnhardt was put on a respirator, but "never showed any signs of life."

Sunday should have been one of the best days in the history of NASCAR. An overwhelming underdog ran the race of a lifetime. The sport's past, present and future were on display as the junior and senior Earnhardts ran second and third on the final lap of the "Super Bowl" of stock car racing. With just seconds to go in the race, it looked like Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s name was going to be written all over this year's race as a team owner, a driver and a father.

Instead, racing fans and the entire sports world were served a harsh dose of reality. Anyone who watched the crash live or saw it on videotape had to be reminded just how fine a line many athletes walk between life and death. Athlete or not, none of us is promised tomorrow. Death is as inevitable as it is unavoidable.

But as Christians, we know Who has conquered death. The first chapter of Revelation tells us Jesus holds the keys to death and hell. And in John 16:33, Christ tells us that because of Him we can have peace in this life as we await the life to come, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Hopefully, we will all take hold of these promises before our time on earth is done. If we do, then no circumstance, no tragedy will overcome us. We can look to the Lord with the confidence of the psalmist who wrote in Psalm 116:8, "For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling."