Zero Pirelli

The confessions of a speed demon turned pace car.

“Be still and know that I am God.”

I bet you wonder why I am driving so carefully nowadays. Yes, I ‘m THAT Zero Pirelli who use to be a speed demon. I was the one tearing up the track and leaving the competition in the dust.

I have always had the need for speed. It started as a kid and followed me into adulthood. I had to be first. I wasn’t happy unless I saw the competition in my rear view mirror. I was fast. I was the best. I was untouchable.

It was great until one day the fast lifestyle caught up with me. My heart was racing when I was sitting still. There was no reason why I should be feeling this way.  It was a hollow thumping that made me wonder why I was moving so fast.

I was racing through life and it was leaving ME in the dust. That thumping sound was the Lord knocking on the door of my heart.  I slowed down enough to pull off the road and open that door.

I am so glad that I did because I now know I will finish a more important race: the human race. My life now has a purpose and I am not just racing around in circles. The Lord slowed me down and has helped me find the right pace for my life.

So, now I am helping others find that pace as well. The road of life is a crazy one. We all could use some help to find our way. I hope my story gives you all little.

ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE ZOMBIES!

"My God why have you forsaken me?"

            

                                  Psalm 22:1

It’s a horrible smell: The aftermath of the living dead. As I peer out of the dirty window shades I shudder at the scene before me. Of course the question that is on everyone’s lips is how did it come to this?

The truth is the seed for this human carnage has been around for ages. It just took a disaster like the one we have lived through to scatter the spores. In no time we started to see the effects of the disease. I saw it in the eyes of people on the street as they went about their day. Worse still was sitting down to coffee with an acquaintance that until not to long ago was a close friend. It was something in the way they carried themselves, a crackled dryness to their words, that signaled things were changing.

However, the spear that pierced my heart was during Thanksgiving dinner last year.  The infection wasn’t from the generous spread but in the laconic attitude of  a few close family members. The normal jabbing and ribbing took a turn that made my jaw drop. There were words thrown like daggers and if they could of consumed each other with fire they would have.  No one left with many leftovers from that feast. We had lost our appetite. Someone was hungering for things unnatural.

There was never any news broadcast announcing the epidemic. I mean you would have thought someone had enough brains left to cry havoc. Nope, I guess those of us not infected had to wizen up and decide how we had to handle this catastrophe. It’s funny how the more you see the subtle signs in people, the easier it was to classify them. (Hm, maybe funny wasn’t the best choice of words). The newscaster’s plastic smile wasn’t covering the meaner undertones. The clerk at the store robotically and catatonically ringing up my milk, cereal, and huge purchase of batteries, lots of batteries stares a moment too long.  I sit on the porch checking my survival gear and  observe a  sweet granny walking her four yappy snitzerdoodles. Let me tell you the words I heard coming from those wrinkled lips made me almost evacuate myself like the little doggies did.

That’s when we left everything behind and took to the road. The three of us, oh, five including our pets, left in tears. First our town, then our state shrunk away in the rear view mirror.  What were we doing? I couldn’t tell you exactly. I did know we were afraid of everything.  Where were we going? Anywhere but here…or here…or there.

The mindless wanders popped up in every town we stopped then fled from. We had no rest outside or inside ourselves. Yes, we found others who still had their wits about them but they had clue what they were doing either. Those who had their minds and hearts intact feared being attacked. Those who were hungry for both never seemed to be satisfied with the lack in their condition.

That’s how we ended up barricaded in this house cut off from everything.  I prayed for some answer some direction. It was the most helpless situation I had every faced. How are we to survive this? What kind of future would we have if the whole world lived…ah I guess live… as the living dead?

In those moments of  quiet  contemplation I finally got the answer. More than that God showed me what the cure was. I slapped myself like the big dummy I had become. Maybe it was the effects of the disease but I know that I had been cured of my own deadness years before.  I had the cure, I just forgot that was why I was here. That was why everyone who was still in their right mind, the few of us left, were still here.

I said a prayer with my family. I unlocked the seven different forms of locks and security devices . With a slow gaping yawn the front door opened. In the light of  beautiful morning, with my Bible in my hand and the love of  Jesus in my heart, I walked right up to a group of lost souls. What fear I had melted the moment we stared faced to faced. 

Bleachy

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

                           Mark 9:24

“BLAHHHHH!” he collapsed in a pile of vomit and the contents of full stomach. He lay there wondering how things had gotten so bad this fast.  

                                               

                                

He was one of the good guys, so why was he feeling like an antagonist? Things had changed around him. God was asking him to step outside of his comfort zone. Everything up to that point was no skin off his teeth. However this time he might be risking his skin just because God was putting him in an uncertain place.

“Okay, yes, doubt was building up inside,” He admitted. “Why would God put me in a place where I was uncomfortable? Isn’t the life of a believer supposed to be safe and secure?”

He bristled at the thought of even talking to the people God was sending him to preach to. Not only were they not like him, they were against everything he stood for.

“Why would God care about what happens to low life? Aren’t they the ones that are causing all the unrest and problems in the world? Why would I want to tell them about Heaven when they make Hell on Earth for the rest of us?” He grumbled.

Then, the incident happened. That was the two-by-four God had used to bring him to his senses.

“Running from God, not a good idea.” He managed to roll up to a sitting position. He hadn’t felt like a human for days. “Now I know what it’s like to live apart from God.” He squinted toward the sky. “You win.”

At first it was hard to walk. His body felt drained of all color as it were. As he moved the Lord renewed his strength. One foot in front of the other.

He walked up the first crowd of people he saw. Whatever conversation they were having zipped up the instant they saw him. He had their complete attention. When he told them what the Lord asked him to say, they fell on their knees begging for forgiveness. Simple as that? He wondered.  I was worried they would tar and feather me the moment I mentioned anything about G-O-D.

That’s how his whole trip went. People were getting right with God. Sinful, nasty, immoral, scum of the earth, people, in his book, were repenting of their ways. They became pale as ghosts and realized that their life was precariously out of balance.

It wasn’t until he looked in a reflection that he understood at least part of the puzzle. Those three days in the belly of a huge fish had bleached him out. Of course that burning in his body was spiritual as well as physical. The stomach acids had burned away his beard, hair, and skin color. He looked like a spirit or a ghost to these people.

It took him some time and a few more stubborn moments to get the irony of it all. He had to really die to himself before he understood the grace of God. Everyone was in the same boat, or in a fish infested sea. By God’s forgiveness anyone can have a new life, even those who think they have it all together. Yes, even the good guys need God, as the days get darker, to be good.

Jonah was pushed beyond what a good man should do. His actions where anticipated by God. He knew that being inside the fish would change him. It also was a sign to those who he would preach to. God knows how tough the days are especially for His people. The temptation to run from the big battles and decisions will always be there. Be assured that the Lord will have a path back even when our ways get a little fishy.

No Bones about It

No Bones About it

Life is so much more than making a buck. There are so many things that are priceless because they are simple yet important. If you get down to the bone you realize what is important or not.

I use to joke around with my elementary students about getting something good for free. When the days were hot all I had was big umbrella but it provided valuable free shade. I had space to give them when they felt crowded. Sometimes just a pat or a smiley face sticker was enough to turn the tide of someone’s bad day. These are things that we may overlook in a busy crazy world. How valuable they are to us when we need them. A sandy quiet beach, a beam if sunshine when it’s been raining, a cheek to cheek hug, etc. Free is good.

Free

I think that there are things that we have covered over with concrete and plastic that we need to unearth. For example, did you know that dirt is a natural cancer fighter? That’s right. There is an enzyme in simple everyday dirt that we need to stay healthy. Maybe that is why growing up playing outside was so vital. It is free but its benefits are still being discovered.

Free

Some are afraid of being outside because they may get skin cancer. Well, there are so many health benefits to sunshine and fresh air. We can get healthy all the way into our bones just by soaking up that Vitamin D from the sun. Like anything good we can easily overdo it and get burned. Yet, taking things in moderation and with a healthy pace can give you the results you are looking for. Free

Being with people and taking the time to be face to face to face with others, is another free gem if life. God made man as a relational being. We are made to have fellowship with others. Even a shy person needs a friend and benefits from the interaction. We were not made to be alone and isolated. That is when we start getting off track.

Fee Fee Fee

When we become too sterile and live inside too much I think we miss the natural way that we can be healthy. We need more time in the sun not cooped up. We need not be afraid of getting our hands dirty. We need to be around people more, not less, to stay human. We are afraid of being outside so we become irritable and agitated.

Our cars, cubicles, and houses that seem like comfort are really more like very clean and organized prisons. Instead of being face to face we find other ways to communicate that are really sort of cold and impersonal. We have become too busy in the human race that I fear we aren’t human anymore.

There is no arguing, no bones about it. We work best under the conditions God has designed us for. We have the choice to keep going the way we are going or we can question our direction.

So what are we? What is the cost?