I have been to the spot many times. Many times, but a few years back
decided to stop. Not quite what I expected, but then I wasn’t sure what I
expected either. Tucked away but still in view from the road, harder to see at
80 than at the posted speed, it sits. The day we stopped it was cold and windy,
and the place was a mess. Unkempt is a better description, and it looked like
it just wasn’t the wind that did it. And it was almost bizarre, it was supposed
to be a memorial, yet it didn’t bring back any memories of what I had read about
the man. Isn’t that what a memorial is supposed to do? But there it sits,
subsidized by a Japanese group no less, to the King of Cool. No not McQueen, he
was still a few years away, but to a young actor who died before his last
picture was released, another racer who acted, who rode Triumphs, smoked
Lucky’s, and raced Porsches. In case you haven’t guessed the name of this
famous Indiana born man, his name was, and probably still is, James Dean. And
on this day in 1955, September 30, he died in a bloody car crash. Like the
Eagles song, “you were to fast to live, to young to die, bye bye.”
On our last trip through the Indiana countryside, we visited the house
where he was born. Nothing cool about it, or where it was, just a farm house in
the community of Fairmount, Indiana. He was marginally famous, he was the
“Rebel Without a Cause,” and his chopped Merc was more recognizable. Just 24,
he was young, talented, and had a bright future ahead, had just completed his
third film with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, what he didn’t know was what
lied ahead. A young college student in a 1950 Ford, Donald Turnupseed, pulled
in front of him, and Dean driving his Porsche, never saw him, the afternoon sun
was blinding him, and he t-boned him, killing him instantly. He had just fueled
up at a station in Blackwells Corners, where the memorial stands today, and even
the roads are different now. State Highway 41 is still there, the site of the
memorial, but State Road 446 is now 46, and has been rerouted. How many times
we have taken the road from Paso Robles to Tulare, going on either road at the
intersection, and each time thinking of his crash. An intersection I always
drive extra carefully, just in case. Dean was the only fatality, both
Turnupseed and Dean’s mechanic who was riding with him survived. How would you
like to have a last name of Turnupseed and live your life knowing you killed a
legend?
And the Porsche also maintains a special enigma around its demise, as as it
passed from owner to owner, and was put on public display, to warn of driving
too fast, all crashes happen at zero miles per hour, the speed getting them to
the impact is the contributing factor, and was lost for awhile. Mystery
surrounding it, and stories, some verified, some lore, about those who became
connected with it had similar bad fates. Then mysteriously disappeared for 55
years, and may have recently surfaced again. Believe what you will, and we
will, the whole story and tragic ending is one made for Hollywood, so sad they
never stepped up and built the memorial.
Just like the day you were born, the day you die is a mystery to you. You
have no control over either, but you do of the days in between. Looking back we
can ask “why didn’t he go another way?” “What if he was going slower? Faster?
What if Turnupseed had hesitated for a moment? What if Jimmy had gone back for
a Coke, or to smoke another Lucky?” The what ifs continue, and not just in
history or legends, but in our lives too. What if I hadn’t made a trip to
California when I did? And not met John, not run on the beach in Venice? What
if I hadn’t lived behind Brennan, gone to high school with him, worked at Sears
with him? What if one of those events hadn’t happened, would I still be saved?
Would I know Jesus? We can dream, make up scenarios, and some even try to
change history, but the fact is all are true, and they happened as planned by
God, way back in the beginning. His plans for you are for you, by him. tough
times, good times, times of rides that never end, rides that end up being life
flighted. Rides alone, rides with the ones you love. And rides you choose to
take with God, by his spirit, with Jesus Christ, his son.
Romans 8 pretty well covers what came separate us from that love.
Nothing. Shall trouble, persecution, hardship, famine, nakedness, or peril of
sword separate from the love of God? What about supernatural forces, but Paul
emphasizes nothing can separate us from his love. And for those who are saved,
we will enjoy heaven eternally with him, for we will be eternally in his
presence. Yet some forget we are now also, and in the midst of a trial forget
that if God is for us, who can be against us? And that all things work together
for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. His
purpose, is Jesus Christ, whom he sent to save you, to reunite us with him after
Adam’s sin. Tough times remind us of how he is with us, and the good times
following remind us of our salvation, if they hadn’t worked together, we are not
called according to his purpose, and deny Jesus. Sometimes in the midst of
despair we need reminding, we don’t know when the trial will end, but we
persevere. We hang in there. And we love God because of what he did for us,
how he took us through. And maybe repent of how we had to be dragged kicking
and screaming. His love is greater than all evils, and anything the world can
throw at it. Nothing can separate us form the love of the Lord. Nothing.
So what about James Dean? The answer is I don’t know, he is best remembered
sadly for his crash, his movies, his race car. His motorcycle. But maybe his
last PSA, public service announcement may serve as a warning to us all. In it
he talks of safe driving, and tells us “be careful out there, the life you save
may be mine.” Adlibbed from “the life you save may be your own” on the script.
How prophetic. And never aired as he died shortly after ward. But his last
words, just before the crash should be taken to heart. “Doesn’t he see us?
He’s gonna hit us...” Aren’t you glad God sees everything? Don’t you wish
James had. Cool won’t get you to heaven, only knowing Jesus will. Now that’s
cool, too cool for school. A man with a real cause. A rebel in and of love.
And the life he saved is mine.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com