Jesus drove a Honda.

Walking through the parking lot at Biola is always a bemusing experience for me. As i pass through the aisles and aisles of cars, it's almost like strolling through some kind of "church merch" expo, with Christian paraphernalia strewn about and showcased in the LA sun.

There's the ubiquitous Jesus fish; the hip spiritually sloganed window decals; bumper stickers cleverly proclaiming that the driver's boss is a Jewish carpenter; and the quintessential example of Christian humor, the license plate frame we all love to hate: "Warning: In case of Rapture this car will be unmanned."

All of these things, in their way, are meant to identify both the driver and the vehicle as being distinctly Christian. It's an easy way to say, "this belongs to Jesus." That's a nice goal. But i have to admit to you right now: for the most part, i hate church merch. (Maybe a lot of that is ENTIRELY personal preference, so please try not to be too offended if you've ever owned a WWJD? bracelet.)

But I think some of what bothers me is what we talked about in class on the first day of integration seminar: Does our stuff really need a sticker to make it belong to Jesus? Or does he own it already? And what does that mean?

And this got me thinking back to high school - something i don't like to do a whole lot, but in this case it was good. i was thinking about a guy i knew and the car he drove.

The guy was named Luke, and the car he drove was something like a 1984 Honda hatchback. i know for sure it was what some might call a "p.o.s." In any case, about as unglamorous as it gets. It was tiny, it made a lot of noise and it probably emitted more than its fair share of greenhouse gases.

But its owner drove that car like it was a champ. Whenever we had events for our Christian club, it would haul tons of stuff back and forth, making good use of every extra inch of storage that a coupe could provide. I bet that car took his little sisters places and went to the store for his mom. Despite an inhospitable-looking interior, the car gave lots of people a ride home, including, on several occasions, a pre-driver's license me when Luke saw me walking after school. (At the time i had a crush on him, so that didn't hurt. But on his side at least it was completely out of the goodness of his heart.)

Interestingly, i don't remember the guy once complaining about that crummy little car. And he probably could have. i didn't go to a wealthy school, but it was solidly middle class, and it was Southern California after all, so even those parents who couldn't afford it often indulged their kids with a pretty decent ride as soon as they were licensed. This car, on the other hand, was twenty years old at the time, a decidedly uncool wagon, and brown. Not even a nice brown. A peeling, graying brown, replete with dents and scratches.

Even though this was oh, five years ago or so, i can't recall at all if this car had any bumper stickers on it or, if it did, whether they were "Christian." It might have had some kind of honor roll sticker on it, and that's all i can say. i haven't spoken to or seen or even really thought about Luke himself since he graduated high school. But you know, to this day, when i think about our "Christian" cars, a car that "belongs to Jesus" - i think of that '84 Honda.