The Ferrari, The Cheerleader and The Tanker

Today I’ve decided to write down and share a story of what my old ideas of God/Higher Power were like. I hope you enjoy it!

It was a normal morning here at the Power House! Life was good. I noticed one of the guys sitting alone. He didn’t look very happy, so I sat down next to him and asked - “What’s going on? How are yah doing”?

His reply to me was that he felt scared and afraid. I could relate.

He made a statement that he was having a hard time with the God/Higher Power thing.

I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder and assured him that if he was anything like I was, then he had good reason to be afraid. I let him off the hook and shared that, when we come to realize just how powerless and hopeless we truly are, it is a shock to the system! The understanding that there is nothing we can possibly do about our condition is such a new revelation that it can really be disturbing and confusing.

Alright, on to the meat and potatoes of this yarn!

The local Ferrari dealer arrived around lunchtime. He was here to give me great news. As he drove up, behind him, was a trailer, and on it sat the most incredible car I have ever seen. It was a brand new 2015 F80 Ferrari. This car has a top speed of 310 mph. Oh my God! This is the car that dreams are made of. Really, really good dreams! What’s it doing in my driveway?

Out of the truck comes this short stocky rough looking middle aged man. He walks right up to me and introduces himself as the Ferrari guy. He was there to give me the car. I thought - “What did I do to deserve this?”

He leans over to me and say’s in a heavy Italian accent, - “This is a yours. Here a is a the title!”

Yep, there it was in black and white. My name was on the paperwork, and with the paperwork there was a Lloyd's of London lifetime policy with no restrictions.

Then he introduces me to the Ferrari Field Technical Team that has been assigned to me make sure that this fine tuned piece of machinery is always running up to the high standards that Ferrari requires for their most important customers. My own, personal Formula 1 Race Team.

This heavenly rocket ship on 4 wheels was amazing. As I walked up to it, I could feel the aura of its power. The power plant consisted of an awesome V12 900hp engine and when the onboard Ferrari’s KERS system is applied, the overall power can hit a total 1,200 horsepower.

As the electrically assisted door opened, I gasped. Sitting in the passenger’s seat was the most beautiful and elegant vision of a women that I have ever been blessed with seeing; a beautiful Houston Texan cheerleader. Now how much better can this day get!

”Hi Baby, I’m so excited to finally meet you, she says, I’ve been waiting for this day all of my life.”

As I climb into the driver's seat. Mr. Ferrari tells me that we have reservations at his resort on South Padre Island! “Stay as long as you wish. No problemo!”

I drop into the cockpit, I reach out and grab the steering wheel, which is more like the control device in a F1 car. Heck, this is a F1 car. Well, as I reach for it, the motor fires up and the engine roars to life.

As the engine powers up, my new best friend, leans down close to my ear and gives me the appropriate congratulations and thanks me for being so gracious. The next few words he spoke went something like this;

“We at Ferrari are so pleased that you will be representing us! However, my friend, I do have only one thing that I feel you must know. We don't know why, but, whenever this car reaches 150 mph, once out of a hundred times, when you go to apply the brakes, they fail and do not work. We have no clue as to why, or how. I can’t tell you when they will fail, only that they will. It might be the first time or it may be the last time.”

“But never forget - 1 out of a 100 times when you're doing 150 mph or greater they will not stop you!”

“You understand what a I’m a telling you?”

“Yes… yes sir… I understand… I got this. Thank you ever so much”. As I’m saying that, I am thinking, that if I just stay under the 150 mph limit, I’ll be ok. I will just control my desire and need for speed. I can do that! Anyway one-hundred and fifty miles per hour is plenty fast, I’ll never have to go any faster than that. That’s a great idea, right?

Ok sweetie let's get going. The navigation screen pops onto the heads up display and instructs me to take Beltway 8 around to Interstate 10. Great! I don't even have to think about where we're going. More time to pay attention to my next wife!

We get on to the 4-lane Interstate highway and the car speeds up as I feather the accelerator pedal. Cruising at about 85-90mph we both settle in and get comfortable, listening to her favorite music on the 1500 watt audio/video/media system. If there is a Heaven, I have found it! Right here, with her, in this ride, going on a trip of a lifetime into nirvana. A new feeling of ecstasy like I have never felt before comes over me. This is the best day of my life!

As we were enjoying our little piece of Heaven, suddenly, in the lane next to me, a Stealth like fighter machine was pulling up next to us. “Wow,” I said to myself,” I thought my Ferrari was the best looking sci-fi looking ride,” but nothing like what I was Staring at. This UFO resembled something out of Star Wars movie. The window rolled down and the dude inside driving had this smirk on his face. He reminded me of the feeling I had when I was in high school. I had a Ford Pinto. It wasn’t cool at all. One day I caught an old dude laughing at me. When I saw the alien in the spaceship smirking at me, it felt like I was back in that Pinto.

He was revving his missile like ride, egging me on for a race. Don’t do it, don’t. I looked at my gal and she, “So what are you going to do? But, she was unaware of what Mr. Ferrari had told me about the brakes. I glanced back at the smirk on his face as he gave me middle finger. That was all I needed…Floor it! 90…95… 105…130…145… 149… the digital speed indicator reached the 150 mark.155. Still side by side we were; 170…185…220…260. We were glued together in this duel of speed and guts. I was not letting up. In fact, I dropped down a gear and jumped ahead by a length. He was able to duplicate my efforts; 285…286…287. Out of the corner of my eyes I watched him disappear in the rear view mirror. I watched as his tires smoked, screeching, the Star Fighter was veering from side to side. He quit - I win.

OR SO I THOUGHT!!!

I turned my sights back onto the road and quickly figured out why gave up on the race. As my mind regained focus, my Texan cheerleading beauty was screaming! In front of us was a giant fireball.

A gas tanker had crashed and burst into flames. My instinctual reaction had no effect.

The speed indicator still read…287 mph.

“Oh my God, what is happening? I’m heading into the fire -at 287 mph!”

I see the fire engulfing the Ferrari - it’s melting. The girl of my dreams is turning into charcoal. The flames cover my body. I am going to die!!!

As my body incinerated into ashes I have one final thought that rushes through my mind……

“That damn Ferrari dealer - He gave me a car with broken brakes!"

Last Words - This story represents the God/Higher Power idea I once had! Once I would achieve a certain level of success, my life always had a way of crashing down and blowing up. It seems as if it was always someone else’s fault, not mine!

However, I truly did not trust God or my Higher Power completely. I had a God/Higher Power moment just like the brakes of that Ferrari that would work 99 percent of the time, but that one time, when I really needed to hit the brakes, they would fail. They would always fail!

Today, I have come to believe that, God/Higher Power works every time and in every situation.

There’s a book that I read all the time that says, “We make our own misery – God/Higher Power didn’t do it!”

Thanks, Chris