The Joy of Driving

by Reverend J. David McGuire, Pastor of Christ Church Anglican, Claremore, OK
A Parable about the Difference between Evangelistic Meetings and Worship

I love driving. I love taking my wife for day-trips around the Green Country region of Oklahoma. I love long road trips in a nice car, whether it has a soft cushy ride or a tight suspension that allows me to feel every bump in the road – one that “talks back to you”!

I had a dream the other night. I dreamed that I had entered a sweepstakes to win a Ferrari, and I won it! I was, as I’m sure most middle-aged guys like me would be, totally ecstatic.

The camera flashes were going off in a blinding array. A band was playing some rousing celebratory music and there were cheers from the onlookers and slaps on the back as I was guided onto the stage at Sweepstakes Headquarters to sign all the paperwork. Now remember – the Ferrari was totally free, but I had to get the title transferred, the license registration filled out, and the insurance policy placed into my name. Yes. They even gave me free insurance for the car. In my dreams, right?

By the time I was done, the lines of fine print were beginning to blur together. I must have been at the sweepstakes place for three hours before I could leave. I was so exhausted that all I could do was go home and get into bed. But I could hardly sleep at all. All I could think about was the next time I could take a day off work.

I’d get up early in the morning and take this fine machine out to the switch-back curves in the Ozarks, or the wide-open, straight-as-a-bee-line route to Dallas – the old road, of course! And, what the heck, I have a free insurance policy with no deductible, and I’ve always wanted to experience the thrill of a race. Why not take the Ferrari out to a road rally. My plans for fully enjoying my new prize were still whirring around in my mind when I finally fell asleep.

It seemed like my one day weekend would never arrive. The work at the plant is so far behind that my boss replied, “Not if you want to keep your job!” to my request for a day off. We have to produce six days a week as it is, and since man cannot live by muscle car alone, I thought I’d better hang on to the job. All week long I’m constantly day-dreaming about that beautiful piece of machinery nestled in the garage. What a thrill it will be to slip into its jet-fighter-like cockpit and be molded into its Recaro bucket seats and become one with the most powerful, the most awesome set of wheels in the state!

Finally, Sunday morning has come! I jump out of bed and pull on my slacks and polo shirt. On the way out the door, I grab the key ring with a gold shield bearing a black horse. I let loose with a hoop which I’m sure will wake all my neighbors.

Suddenly the phone rings. The caller I.D. reads “Sweepstakes HQ”. My mind starts rushing to conjure up all the possible reasons they could be calling. I imagine them telling me “There has been a mistake. The Ferrari was supposed to have gone to someone else.” Or, “There has been a recall on that particular model. It is totally unsafe to drive until it is repaired.” Ten negative possibilities flash through my brain during the four rings it takes for me to answer the phone.

“Is there a problem,” I asked.

“No, we just need you to come down to the Sweepstakes Headquarters for a little ceremony.”

Still puzzled, I gingerly back the sleek, beautiful example of automotive engineering out of the garage and into the slow city traffic, the only environment in which I absolutely detest driving, and make my way back to the headquarters. The shiny red hood vibrates as the engine lumbers along in traffic, seeming to be sobbing out loud for the open road.

When I walk into the big room, there is all the same clamor as when I had won my Ferrari. Cameras flashing here and there, crowds cheering, committees of prize counselors congratulating the newest winner of a brand new Ferrari just like mine!

I edge my way through the crowd toward the front to find the chairman of the counseling committee that had called me back in today. I locate him over by the band talking to the drummer.

I asked him, “Why did you have me come back here today? I was set to go out on the road to see what kind of tricks my new pony can do!”

“That’s just the way it’s done here,” he replied. “We’re all about getting the new winners signed up. Nothing at all about tricks or ponies in the fine print that you signed!”

I was stunned. Why couldn’t they do all the sign-ups and paperwork and number-crunching during the week and let the winners jump into a real driving experience on the only day of the week that we have the time to do so. But, being the good “winner” that I am, I joined the others in the crowd who were intent on bringing in as many winners as possible at every weekend gathering, seemingly caring nothing at all about the deep desires that some of them have for actually experiencing what they have won. The possibility of a great relationship with the most awesome and powerful thing on the market.

Maybe it was never meant for me or any of my fellow winners to experience the great joy of such a relationship. Maybe our lot is to transport ourselves back to the Sweepstakes Headquarters every weekend to cheer on new winners. To initiate them into the family of winners that never gets to enjoy their winnings, unless you enjoy stop and go traffic.
I think I’d much rather be able to hand out entries for the sweeps every day on my job or when I shop or go out to eat. And maybe, every once in a while, a person could scratch off the stuff that always gets under your fingernails, to find that they too are a winner. And all this on a Monday or a Tuesday or a Friday, leaving the weekend free for all of the winners to get together for a great race or rally.

If I had the power to change things, I would add to the fine print of the winners’ agreement that the Sweepstakes Headquarters will be used only for the meeting place for events that bring the greatest joy and fulfillment to the winners. Joy and fulfillment from experiencing the relationship with what they’ve won. And then I’d add another line of fine print that requires the winners to GO OUT to all the places around them to tell others about the sweepstakes and have them scratch off the winning tickets right where they are in the office or the grocery store or where they live down the street.

Wouldn’t that be a great group of Winners to be around!

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If you’d like to be a Winner of the absolutely most powerful and awesome Prize you could ever imagine, the gift of eternal life, AND be able to enjoy that Prize during worship that has an audience of One, where we truly commune with the Father and not fill that special time with the tasks that we are to do daily, then call Christ Church Anglican at 918-740-1885 or 918-283-2263. Someone is ready to give you the good news that you have WON!