Give 'er Gas!

These Camels Could Run Faster than Mom and Dad's Station Wagon!

Jebel, Turkmenistan 2004

Psalm 27:8 NIV

My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.

My parents owned a lime-green station wagon in the late 1970s. I'm not sure where they found it, but I can say with full confidence it was the only lime-green station wagon in Forest Park, Ohio, where I lived.

Teenagers are easily embarrassed about all aspects of their lives, especially when seen driving their parents' lime-green station wagon.

I would have ducked underneath the steering wheel had that been an option when I drove past my friends, but getting into an accident would have been even more humiliating.

My friend, Elaine, and I cruised in my parents' station wagon. We lived near Winton Woods, and one night we discovered a pasttime to keep us entertained.

Since the statute of limitations has expired, and since I am the author of this memoir, I will lay all blame for this prank at Elaine's feet.

It was her idea for us to find amorous "parkers" in their cars in the woods, turn off our headlights, pull up behind them, and then voilà, we turned on our headlights, backed out real fast and sped away before any harm befell us.

Well, that was our plan. Had we owned a lime-green corvette or a lime-green lamborghini that might have worked. However, we were in a station wagon that had no "get-up-and-go".

On our very first try, after I turned on the lights to reveal ourselves, my jaw dropped when I saw a brand new red mustang in front of us, and the occupants were not pleased with our game.

Talk about picking the wrong car to sneak up on!

Elaine screamed at me, "Give 'er gas, Lori! Give 'er gas!!! Get out of here!" 

She didn't have to tell me twice. Problem was, I had the accelerator to the floor. The station wagon was currently engaged in a committee meeting trying to decide if "Reverse" was the appropriate gear for us to travel in or not.

By now we could have jumped out of the car and raced it through the woods as it was moving so slowly.  I believe Elaine was in a fetal position by now anxiously glancing behind us as the mustang turned around and started to gain ground on us.

We headed up a STEEEEEP hill that led us out of the park into safety.  Elaine beat the side of the car as if she were whipping a horse to coax it to gallop faster up the hill. She hollered, "Give her gas! Give her gas! GO! GO! GO!!!"  

I prayed we would get the station wagon up the hill before the mustang caught us. 

Just as our doom seemed imminent, the station wagon's committee meeting ended. The consensus seemed to be that we should live to see another day. A burst of gasoline hit the fuel lines, arrived at the engine, and we sped up the hill far from the angry driver of the mustang.

Not surprisingly, that night put an end to our game at Winton Woods.

Throughout my life, there have been times when I haven't had the burst of energy I needed for God. Like the station wagon, I have put him into my mental committee meetings. I've debated myself about Him every which way.  I've justified my actions based on what I thought I knew about Him.

"After all," I've told myself, "God is love. He'll love me even after I do this!" I didn't get it! I didn't understand I was supposed to be "firing all my cylinders" once I accepted God. I wasn't supposed to be doing wrong and justifying those actions looking for His forgiveness later.

At school we teachers have an unofficial policy of doing something first and asking forgiveness later. It's the only way around red tape. God doesn't operate by this principle.

I'm sure there are times I thought I was giving God all my energy, but in reality, I might have had the accelerator down and nothing was actually firing inside of me.

I need to keep a close watch on myself and monitor how much energy I put into my relationship with God.
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Lord, first, thank you for watching over Elaine and me that night. Also, help me keep my energy focused daily on you.