Hello,
“You don’t look like a manual transmission guy,” said a recent high
school grad who works on cars and sat next to me at a recent wedding reception.
We were talking, he and I, as we awaited our turn to go to the buffet,
and when I found out his interest in cars, I told him that I drive a new Mini
Cooper. (For you fellow Mini Cooper fans, mine is one of the new 4 door
Mini’s….an “S” of course…a 2.0 turbo charged…manual transmission.) I told him that it packs a bit of a
punch, especially when you put it in “Sport Mode” (when you do so, a go-kart
appears on the big circular screen in the middle of the dash).
“I bet it would really have a lot of zip if it was a manual,” he said to
me.
“Of course it’s a manual.
It’s the only way to drive a Mini!”, said I.
“Oh, you don’t look like a manual transmission guy.”
What does a “manual transmission guy” look like, I wonder?
Was it my balding head that caused my exclusion from a “manual
transmission guy”? Or maybe my
increased waistline? Or maybe the
black suit and clerical collar that I was wearing? I suppose to an 18 year old car guy, there are many things
about when looking at me that would lead him to say, “Oh, you don’t look like a
manual transmission guy.”
But if I had said to him instead, let’s go out and I’ll show you my car,
and as we walked around it, and he sat down in the form fitting driver’s seat,
put his hands on the leather bound steering wheel, and then reached over to the
gear shift, noticing the shift pattern on the knob….I bet that he would have
said, “Oh, you’re a manual transmission guy!”
To look at me, I bet that some people might not only say, “Oh, you don’t
look like a manual transmission guy,”
they might also say, “Oh, you don’t look like a Christian kind of
guy.” When my words are
sharp. When my actions are
hurtful. When my greed is exposed. When my doubts come to the
surface. There is plenty about me
that to look at me might someone to say, “Oh, you don’t look like a Christian
kind of guy.”
That is why I try to do with those who legitimately wonder if I am a
Christian kind of guy as I should have done with my young friend who wondered
if I was a “manual transmission guy” whom I should have first shown him my
car….I try and first show them Jesus.
Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love. Jesus the Word of transformational forgiveness and
mercy. Jesus, the Good Shepherd
who lays down his life for the sheep, and searches to find every one of his
fold. Jesus, the one whose
resurrection power is so great that nothing can never sever God from those who
bear his name. Jesus, the one who
is the stamp and seal of 1 John 3:1, “See what love the Father has given us
that we should be called children of God.
And that is what we are.”
And when they see Jesus…instead of me…see his love that form fits every
sort of person….when they put their hands on the steering wheel that can grab
corners and turns like none other…and when they take hold of the gear shift,
the cross…..they just might say of me, “Oh, you are a Christian kind of guy.”….and
they might just say of themselves….”Oh, maybe I am, too.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
No comments:
Post a Comment