God Is Love - Part One

There are two parts to this story. Part One is about a very fast and very shiny 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner. Part Two is about how children believe in fairy tales and just about anything else you tell them. Although they seem unrelated… trust me…. these two stories do intertwine.

I was a 17 year old junior looking to purchase a muscle car so I could impress the girls in my High School when I saw an ad for a ’68 Plymouth Roadrunner. It was a true hot rod, fully decked out with a 383 engine, double barrel carbs, chrome Crager rims, Mickey Thompson Indy tires and a Hurst 4-speed shifter. It was metallic gold with a tan vinyl roof and absolutely beautiful to a young man seeking to make his mark in the world (and one hoping to get a date to the prom). I knew I would buy it as soon as I laid eyes on it, but one thing made me hesitate. Dead center in the middle of the back windshield was a bold red sticker in the shape of a heart that said, “God is Love”.

I attended church growing up and fully believed in God but I didn’t yet truly have a close relationship with Him. Plus I was a teenager worried about all the stupid things you worry about when you’re young like, “The guys are going to make fun of me if I have this sticker on my new car.” But the young man I bought the car from made a huge impression on me. He was super nice and extremely honest so I thought if he was totally cool and he had that sticker on his car, then who I am to take it off? I decided to leave it on.

 

 

I only drove that car for one year because the maintenance was so darn expensive and the speeding tickets cost me a bundle as well. So my senior year (although it broke my heart) I put an ad in the local newspaper. The first person to answer the ad was a young marine from Oceanside. I thought about removing the heart shaped sticker before anyone came to see the car but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I remember struggling with that decision for a while but then I realized part of me was proud that I had the courage to display my faith in such a public way and that removing the sticker now would totally cancel out that pride. The car was cool and the sticker was cool (in my opinion) and if anybody didn’t like it…too bad. Funny thing was the marine was this really tough looking guy with a flat top haircut, wearing camouflage uniform pants, a torn white T-shirt and smoking a camel cigarette. He looked the car over thoroughly and said, “This is one cool car, but does the sticker come off?” I responded in my deepest tough guy voice, “The sticker is what makes the car cool.” He didn’t say anything for a moment, but then reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. As he drove away, the last thing I saw was that sticker in the window... and I remember saying out loud to no one in particular, “God is love!”

What you are is God's gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.

~ Hans Urs von Balthsar