To The Metal

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

13 days ago, my father underwent surgery to remove cancer from his lungs. He smoked a pack a day for over 50 years. The outcome wasn’t hard to predict, but from the moment I learned that the disease had returned I gave thanks to the Lord for my time with him, and I prayed for his healing and recovery.

A year ago, I was a different man. I was prideful. I wasn’t speaking to my parents. Every night I saw the bottom of a different bottle. I was afraid of anything I didn’t understand or could not control with my own two hands. I was playing it safe. I was staying in my comfort zone, a lonely, dark, angry, and miserable place where there was no joy or peace.

Last night as I attended Christmas Eve services at Grace Community Church, I was blessed with an evening of music and worship. I was blessed more than most though. As the band played on, I closed my eyes as I normally do. Now I don’t sing, as we want to keep people in the seats after all. I close my eyes and listen.

Growing up in the Catholic church, there was always music to be played during services… but I rarely if ever heard the congregation sing along. Normally before a reading, or prior to the response to the gospel, the musicians present would play, the choir would sing, and then silence as a deacon or priest read the Word of God.

That’s not a service at Grace. You might as well be at a rock concert where every seat is filled by a fan. I close my eyes when the band plays because what I do not see, I hear, and what I hear engulfs my heart. Men, women, children, the old and the young all living their own lives, embracing the good or enduring the bad, they sing in wondrous harmony.

But all of that isn’t why I was blessed more than any other night to be standing there. A year ago last night, while I sat at Grace with a good friend, I was lost. Last night? I was blessed because for the first time since I was a little boy… and less than 2 weeks after having parts of his lungs removed… as the band played O Come All Ye Faithful…

I could hear the deep, gravelly voice of my father singing along. I am found.

What a difference a year in Christ makes. Thank you, Jesus, for your Grace. So much has changed for me this past year, for my family. Where I previously embraced the mantra of “Bah Humbug” and winced at the slightest sound of a Christmas carol, now this joyful noise fills my heart with hope and my soul with praise for God.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 36:26

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

So I get home yesterday, dead set on relaxing after my ordeal in the hospital… Put a movie on, make a cup of tea… I’m only half watching when the screen goes black. Ok, I’ve seen movies do this, it’s nothing new. Dialogue continues, screen still black. Crap. I restart the TV, unplug and replug, sound is still coming out, backlight is dead.

Before heading up to Best Buy, I check the website to see what sort of options I have. They’ve got a “doorbuster” option, and a non-doorbuster option that are the same size. The non is a few hundred bucks more, but I figure I’ll compare when I get there. Getting to Best Buy really wasn’t a problem. The place was packed but traffic was moving.

When I get in the door, of course I’m presented with the doorbusters, absurdly low priced brand-name TV’s that are the size I’m looking for. There’s another guy in a FedEx uniform looking at it and talking to a friend. I do some quick research, turns out the model number aligns with a ‘black Friday only’ model with very poor reviews.

I share the info with FedEx guy then go track down my set, it’s quite a bit bigger and heavier than I expected, and I’m running out of breath trying to carry it through the store. Did I mention I was in the hospital for several hours due to near syncope? Yeah, probably not a smart move dragging a 60lb TV through the place. but I never claimed to be smart!

In the checkout line, I see an older couple behind me with a few unwieldy items, as we strike up a conversation about the perils of Black Friday I let them rest their purchases on my TV box while we wait. The guy in front picked up a Nintendo Switch for his kids. Overall, everyone’s in good spirits here.

That’s the funny thing – over the years I generally made a point to AVOID going out on Black Friday. My general (well earned) impression is that on Black Friday, normal people turn into raging psychopaths who will curb-stomp someone over a Tickle-me Elmo. In actuality – everyone I ran into was in a good mood, even in absurdly heavy traffic.

I pay for the TV and head out into the parking lot. Protip: Park as far away from everyone else as possible. Protip #2: doing that when you have to carry a 60lb box is a stupid idea. I get about halfway to my truck and run out of breath again. That’s when the friendly older couple save the day. The wife takes the boxes, the husband grabs one side of my TV and helps carry it out to my truck.

Immensely grateful, I joyfully thank them and without even thinking wish them a Merry Christmas. They both break out into huge smiles and say it back to me. As I strap down my new toy into the bed of the truck I can’t help but think of how the joy of interacting with those strangers made up for most of the stress of the day up until that point.

I have a temper.

My father had a temper, so when mine comes out, I know where I got it. About 10 years ago I asked my Dad to use his angry voice to see if it still worked. That low, guttural roar sent chills up my 30 year old spine. Thankfully I haven’t heard that voice in decades outside of my curious request, but that’s the power of anger, it leaves a mark.

There’s a very specific trigger for my temper. It’s not when I don’t get my way. It’s not when someone wrongs me. It’s not when someone hurts me. It’s when someone wrongs someone I love. It’s when someone I love does something wrong. If I care, I am quick to anger. Drop of a hat, flip of a switch, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, raw, pure, anger.

There’s a time and place for anger in life, but I’ve learned over the years that when I get angry, I am usually wrong. Anger hasn’t accomplished a thing for me in life other than scaring people I care about, and driving away others who might seek my council for fear of an angry response. For me, it just does not work.

I got some news early this morning and I snapped. My already skyrocketing blood pressure was boiling over. Someone I love did something wrong. Someone I love was wronged. Where the me of only a year ago would have changed out of his Voltron pajamas, jumped into his truck and sought seething recompense…

Instead I prayed for the crystal clarity of a command from God. I prayed for guidance.

I sat and prayed in the darkness and while I wasn’t receiving an immediate response to my prayer, my anger slowly waned. My heart slowed. The cortisol levels started to drop. I was still angry, but my previous urge to jump in the truck and bring the justice only a pissed off Lithuanian can deliver at 5am faded.

There’s a bible next to my bed. I picked it up, and without looking, flipped to a page. Chronicles 6:21. I began to read. Ok… ok…. ok…. “when You hear, forgive.”

Boom. The crystal clarity of a command from God. Respond with love, respond with forgiveness, do not respond with anger. I’m still not sure what the overall outcome of this situation will be (I hope you forgive my vagueness at the moment)… but I know my place now.

forgive.

Folks, many people have many opinions as to the origin of Thanksgiving, the meaning of Thanksgiving, the truth of Thanksgiving. The origin of this holiday, created in a declaration by then President of The United States, George Washington in 1789, was to give thanks to God for our many blessings as a nation. What follows is that declaration. You can see the original on mountvernon.org.

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.”

“And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.”

“Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.”

George Washington.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

I just saw a reveal of the new Ford Mustang Mach-E and died inside a little. What happened to the passion of car design? Ford has decided that it’s fully electric vehicle will be called a Mustang. What we get is the end result of a Tesla 3 and Tesla X combined in a fever dream with a few Mustang-ish details like a sticker-charged Civic from 1995.

Where’s the innovation??? When the Prius first came out, a real hybrid with solid MPG – its design (based on a Toyota Echo) really didn’t impress. It was a tool, an appliance. The next generation followed, and then pretty much every hybrid 4-door looked like the 2nd gen Prius. The design was meh, but it’s a commuter car. It was as bold as potato salad.

Mistake 1? Calling it a Mustang. Ok, so Ford is taking a page from the Tesla playbook. They came out with a car. On paper, I’m certain it has great statistics. It may even blow the doors off a Mustang. It’s not a Mustang. A Mustang is bold, it’s obnoxious, it’s groundbreaking. This car may be groundbreaking for Ford, but it’s a step backward for Mustang.

Tesla came along with some really fantastic design IMHO, they’ve revolutionized electric car design and performance to the point I’m seriously considering putting one in my driveway next to my 200k mile Silverado. GM brought us the EV-1…

Which was shelved in favor of the almighty push-rod. In that market gap and more than a few years later came Tesla, and they give us this:

In a generation where the theme of everything seems to be a reboot or a sequel, Tesla gave us an entirely new franchise. In some ways the design language could be considered dated, but take any other 100% electric car in that price range, put it side by side, which one looks like the designers had a full 8 hours of sleep the night before?

Now I’ll admit, in a few cases other manufacturers are catching up but again – as far as I’m concerned, it’s Tesla’s game to lose at this point. Manufacturers need to be bold, they need to take chances, not reboot, not reimagine, and certainly not slap the Mustang nameplate on a gray market Tesla. Honestly? I can only think of one nameplate that would be best.

That’s right, the venerable Ford Escort. If Ford could turn the Taurus into a full-size sedan, they can take the Escort and turn it into another bland crossover. We still remember when they slapped the Mustang name on a Ford Pinto, and called it the Mustang II… never again.

I hope the new effort is successful. I hope Ford sells this and many more electric vehicles. I hope the market gets flooded enough that the prices can come down. What I hope for most of all though, is if you’re going to name a new product, that the design passes the smell test.

The Mach-E is not a Mustang. The Mustang is not an appliance, and if the design must be THAT close to something as bold as a Tesla, then it should be BOLD. This just… is not.

What do you think?

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.