Jesus Needs a Car

Note: The names have all been changed to protect the identity of those involved, even though only Jesus is innocent.

“Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.” Matthew 25:44-45

It was a Monday night, and my car started making “noises” on the way home from work. Noises that got progressively louder, to the point where I knew I had to take it to a mechanic the very next day.

The next morning, the noise got worse, and I never made it to a mechanic. The car stopped just a few miles from work. I didn’t have AAA, but my supervisor and a coworker came to my rescue. But my problems were just starting. The engine was irreparable, and the car was now practically worthless. I had no savings, no credit, and no other means of transportation. There is no public transportation available from my city to the city I work in, and I live several miles from any public transportation. Since I live in Cleveland National Forest, a bicycle wouldn’t even have helped.

I was carless for over a month. Fortunately, my neighbour Brian was kind enough to let me use his huge truck. Unfortunately, it gets about 10 miles per gallon. I was already not making ends meet (I work for a non-profit organization, so I am literally below the poverty level). Now, with having to drop Brian off at the train station in the morning and the 40 mile commute each way to work, I was financially sinking even faster.

The one encouraging thing throughout the experience was the way many of my fellow Christian co-workers rallied around me to offer support and prayer. My Fellowship gave me $250.00 from the Benevolence Fund. Bonita, the receptionist, was praying that someone would give me a car. My friend Bella gave me rides when necessary, searched for cars for sale and offered a loan. Sally came up to me one Friday as I was leaving work and insisted I take a $20.00 bill “for something fun” that weekend. I came in one Monday morning a couple of weeks later to find an envelope on my desk with my name printed on it, and a printed note inside (no deciphering the handwriting, here) that said, “From one Christian brother to another—God will take care of your transportation needs”, along with $100.00 in cash.

On the other hand, when I had my car towed to the large parking lot at S.E.R.V. and put it in a back corner until I could figure out what junkyard would pay me more than a couple of hundred dollars for it, the very next day, the building maintenance man came by and, with a big smile, asked, “How long is your car going to be there? We need that space.” This struck me odd, because not only was the parking lot never full, but Tom Parker, one of S.E.R.V.’s board members has a mobile home taking up six parking spaces. It hasn’t been moved or used in a couple of years.

With an advance I will struggle to pay back from work, and a personal loan, I finally purchased a vehicle, one month after my car broke down. The following morning, I lay in bed wondering why I had gone through this. I know God was trying to teach me something.

As I lay there, I thought about Tom Parker’s mobile home. I thought, If I owned that mobile home, and my best friend or my sister didn’t have a car, there is no question what I would do: I would sell it, and buy him or her a car. I know that’s what they would do, as well.

Then it hit me: why hadn’t Tom Parker sold his unused mobile home and bought me a car? Now, in brother Parker’s defense, I’ve never met him, and I’m sure he was completely unaware of my situation. But I started to ponder what my co-worker Annie had told me a month prior, regarding a book she was reading and which had affected her strongly. She said the gist of the book was in pointing out the fact that there are Christians who are millionaires, and there are Christians who are homeless, and this should not be. When I read the reviews of the book on Amazon.com, the phrase that stuck out to me was that Christians need to realize that “The world can’t afford the American Dream.”

I’ve always wanted the American Dream. I wanted to own a house, to have a nice car, to have fashionable clothes. In my youth I dreamed of wealth and fame, as many young people do. I still have aspirations of doing something big. However, all of a sudden, I found whatever aspirations I had for wealth or even comfort vanishing away. I asked myself, “In light of this recent experience you’ve had, what kind of person do you want to be? Could you ever be comfortable living in a mansion? Could you ever buy a fancy car, when there are Christians who don’t even have a car?”

I then imagined Jesus walking into any given Church on a Sunday morning. He gets up to the pulpit and makes the announcement, “I need a car.” How many minutes would he remain in need of a car? He’d have dozens, hundreds, thousands of car keys within minutes, I’m sure. I certainly consider myself one of the least of his brethren. No one bought Jesus a car.

A few days prior to my Saturday morning revelation, my close friend John had told me that he felt impressed that I needed to get in touch with Sampson, who we knew from the days I worked at the Bread for Health Bakery (the same Christian brothers who had for all practical purposes stolen one of my recipes and not paid me as they had agreed to—see my testimony/article I Was Wronged! at www.midnightcryministries.com for details). I searched for Sampson’s phone number, but couldn’t find it, and he had moved his shop. Providentially after I had my epiphany, I ran into him at the local health food store parking lot the very next afternoon. He then told me how the Flores brothers (owners of Bread for Health) were now ridiculously rich (partially due to my recipe).

I had reached out to the Flores brothers a year prior, asking for help in starting up a small food manufacturing business. Months later, I contacted the president, John Flores, who said in an enthusiastic voice, “I’ve been looking for you! I tried calling you, but your phone was disconnected…” When I asked why he was looking for me, he said he wanted to know how I was doing! I told him about my extreme financial difficulties—utilities constantly being disconnected—and then asked him for just a job in the office.

They not only didn’t help me set up a business, but they said “there just isn’t any work available”. He ended with, “I wish I could help you…” I found his “I was looking for you to see how you are doing!”, finding me in the gutter, so to speak, and then echoing James’ “Be clothed, brother… be fed…” quite disconcerting. During the entire two decades I have known this wealthy family, they were constantly trying to convince people they have no money, despite their opulent lifestyles. It’s not that they couldn’t help—they wouldn’t.

Sampson continued to tell me how they put in tons of modernized equipment to produce larger quantities of bread, but they just can’t keep up with the demand for their popular products. They have now purchased bakeries in Washington, Canada, North Carolina, in addition to the one they have always owned in Southern California and the one in Maryland. They now hobnob with ultra-wealthy people. They purchased an 80 foot yacht, and since they don’t know how to navigate it, hired a full time Captain, so they can take cruises whenever they want. Yet they had no work for me when I had asked for help… They were now driving $100,000.00 cars (and hiding them so people wouldn’t know how wealthy they are), yet I had no way to get to work, except for the truck that my non-believer neighbour was letting me use. What surprises many are headed for when all stand before the King, and he separates the sheep from the goats.

Prior to my Saturday morning epiphany, I had just read the following powerful statement on page 71 of Greg Boyd’s The Myth of a Christian Nation: “Scripture repeatedly stresses the fact that we are called to be a ‘holy’ people (2 Cor. 6:17), a concept that indicates something consecrated and set apart (Ps. 4:3). Like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, we are to come out from the world and be ‘set apart’ for God. We utterly trivialize this profound biblical teaching if we associate our peculiar holiness with a pet list of religious taboos (such as smoking, drinking, dancing, gambling, and so on). No, the holiness the New Testament is concerned with is centered on being Christlike, living in outrageous, self-sacrificial love.” (emphasis added)

We are saved by God’s grace—but I don’t know how the Flores brothers can use God’s money to drive $100,000.00 cars. Sure, they donate lots of money to the cause, but won’t they feel like Schindler did in that incredibly moving scene and say, “that car could have bought me one more soul…”? How can the President and Vice-Presidents of S.E.R.V. live with their conscience, when their annual salary is $110,000.00+, and then turn to those of us below the poverty level and tell us they can’t afford to give us even a menial raise?

We are called to not be “respecters of persons”. Yet the fact that Tom Parker is allowed to park his unused mobile home at S.E.R.V.’s parking lot for several years (because he’s a Board Member), yet I am immediately put to task the day after my car is “taking up a space” in the parking lot shows that we are respecters of persons. We are called to refer to one another “brother” and “sister”. Yet the fact that no one did for me what they would have done for their literal brother, sister, son or daughter, shows that these are just polite religious—nay, hypocritical—words

I am not casting stones here, because we all share the same fallen nature. More than anything, this has taken me light-years forward in my own Christian experience, because it has changed me, to the point where I now see, in a practical manner, what really matters in life. Another profound statement I read recently said that this lifetime is our only opportunity to suffer and sacrifice for one another, for in the coming kingdom, there will be no suffering or sacrifice (Hallelujah!). Yet taking this awesome fact into consideration, I not only want to take advantage of my ONLY opportunity to sacrifice for my brothers and sisters, but I will never again rob them of a chance to sacrifice for me by refusing help.

When the character of Christ is perfectly reproduced in his people—when they love one another the way he does—he will come to claim them as his own. I am convinced of it. Beloved, let us love one another.