Visit any old car show and you will see more people gathered around a red
convertible with the top down than a grey four door sedan with black wall
tires. Something about a red convertible that speaks of spring days, pretty
girls, and good times. It stimulates the senses, lets us daydream if only for
a minute, we can see us driving down Main Street with everyone looking and
admiring us. The weather is always perfect, the girl always pretty, and the car
always shiny. Must have big V-8, extra points added for a muscle car, and be
one that no one else has or could afford. But somehow you can and do. Remember
this is your dream, so dream big. Every guy wants to to be you, every girl
wants to be with you, and it’s all because the top goes down, and the red
doesn’t hurt your chances either. Yet most of us can better relate to the four
door sedan, the one our parents drove. The one they car pooled us in. The one
that was always too old, out of style, but the one the memories were made in.
We took our driver’s test in it, had our first date, and had our first fender
bender in it. The first one we cherished when we got our license, and was
always made fun of, yet took a car load of you and your friends to the shore,
you and your date to the prom. You washed it all day Saturday trying to impress
your date, who didn’t care about cars, but liked the 8 track and the rear
speakers, and you were careful to save the spot on the tape with her favorite
song for that right moment....the last thing on your mind was red cars with
tops down, her top down was a priority, and a sedan with fogged windows gave you
the safety and security you assured her. So why is it, that cars where we built
the memories, are ignored, yet the ones we couldn’t have are the ones we seem
drawn to today? Have we forgotten how noisy old convertibles were, how BH’s
dates rather have the top up so they didn’t mess their hair? How every time it
rained the roof leaked somewhere, and how in real life the top mostly stayed up,
although at 60 mph in the rain it mostly went right over you, but sometime you
had to and would stop, and then you got soaked. But yet we still lust over top
down motoring today, and it is true that there is nothing like a fall or spring
day riding around the country with the top down that heightens all the senses,
yet in the cold of winter and the extreme heat of summer you are glad for AC,
and a fully enclosed car. So for some strange reason I am drawn to the old four
door sedans over the red convertibles. Or any other color convertible, and
having had a few, I have memories of them, we have a red Mustang now. But old
cars take me back, and seeing a 1966 Rambler Classic reminds me of my first
car. And how all my friends cared more about my license than what I drove.
Country Squire wagons dressed in fake wood remind me of my girlfriend in 8th
grade, going to dances picked up afterwards by her mother in their white 1965.
Cheryl’s dad had a newer one. Bruce with his 1963 Fairlane with Patricia II
painted on the fender, Patricia 1 was his girl friend. The memories there are
too bold too print, even if the statute of limitations has run out on most of
them. Even the car I owned when I met Theresa, a 1967 Sedan de Ville, we will
always remember, and we both had MG’s before that. My parents last car for both
had four doors, probably like your parents did. And probably like you do
today...so we have convertible dreams but sedan memories.
I tend to date memories by what we were riding or driving, it narrows down
the date as the memory banks fill up and retrieval takes longer. But we all
still have our dreams, whose list gets shorter as we get older, hopefully
because we have attained them, or surpassed them. Or sometimes finding out the
dream was far better than the reality of it. And like attaining the red
convertible of our dreams, once we have shown it off to everyone we wish to
impress, and some we wish to offend, we park it in the garage, where it sits,
and only gets driven on nice days, special days, for we must protect our
investment. It is true that when the top goes down the price goes up, such are
the prices of memories, and sometimes the ones created after we attain them are
never quite as good as the ones we remember now. Time heals all wounds, but
scars remain, the smallest dents show up, and the imperfections of life are made
larger by their presence in an otherwise perfect life. I have a small dent on
my 1978 Suzuki, guess what people notice first? “Pretty bike, too bad about
that dent...” and that is what they remember. So maybe life is safer lived in
a four door sedan, but dreams are made in red convertibles. Yet we all want to
be noticed, just not to stand out. The same only different. Just a little bit
better than the other guy.
Today many are found safe and sound within the four walls of the church. A
four door sedan of religion, fitting in with everyone else. Talking the same
language, same bumper stickers, and same seat every Sunday at church. A friend
tells of his father greeting a man on one Sunday morning, “you must be new
here,” he says. “How can you tell?” is the response. “You’re sitting in my
seat...” Imagine if God greeted us that way? So why do we greet others like
that? Are you afraid to go outside the four walls of the church? I am part of
the most learned Christians ever, more Bible studies and help books are
available than you can imagine. Every day, every night, you can be in one. But
where are these same people when it comes time to minister? To serve at
Easter? To feed a neighbor whose wife is sick? Whose yard needs cutting?
Whose red convertible sits unattended in the garage? Where are all the four
door sedan Christians? Why is it all the top down convertible types get
recognized? Where do they find the time? The boldness? The love?
That love is only found in Jesus Christ. You can do nice things, no law
against them, but only will they you see the true blessings when Jesus is
involved. We are to be “doers” of the gospel, not just sayers. We are to be
the same Christian in church as out, yet how any would recognize you after
church inline at the grocery store? The same guy who was so busy worshipping,
now is so busy impatient inline. Did he leave Jesus behind? Why would we would
we want to be a Christian if they are all like that, based on seeing just one?
So when we are told to “preach the word daily, if necessary us words,” remember
actions not only speak louder, but the memories last longer. Take Jesus out to
the people, many won’t darken a church because there are people like us in it.
Go show some love, put your top down and cruise. Enjoy the freedom that is
found in Jesus Christ, and share it with others. Be bold enough to love freely
and openly. Maybe keeping your Bible shut and your ears open, along with your
heart. Listen to the people like Jesus did, it is only an answer if someone
asks, and be that kind of person that people want to ask. Maybe that is why we
are drawn to the red convertible, and talk to the guy, while we pass by the
couple sitting on lawn chairs behind the grey Rambler. One is action, the other
may have seen action, but both have stories to tell. Some of church, some in
church, some of blessings, some still seeking. It is your choice, but you will
find that although Jesus taught in the church, he ministered out on the
streets. He went where the action was and is. Reminding us we are the church,
going out among the lost rather than just inviting them to church.
It is hard to hear the gospel when the doors are shut and the windows
rolled up. Don’t keep your light hidden. Go out, and live the life that Jesus
tells about. Be filled and fulfilled. You may never own the red convertible,
but knowing the guy who owns one can still get you a ride. Going to church
won’t make you a pew, but can cause a stink. Open the doors of your heart and
let the sunshine in. Put the top down and enjoy all that God has for you.
Maybe that is what we are really looking for when we see red convertibles, the
freedom that others don’t enjoy, that we may be missing. A freedom only found
at the cross, outside on a hill. Take a drive with Jesus today, out in the open
where people can see him, and witness him. That rushing wind may be more than
the wind in your face, and the freedom and memories may be just beginning. When
the top goes down, the price may go up, but Jesus paid it all. Stop dreaming,
and start living the life today.
love with compassion
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com