You should see my new car. Well, it isn’t really new; it has a little more than 80K miles on the odometer and is a 1998 model but it is new to me. It is my friend … it says so on the side of the car; in big letters it says Amigo. It is bright red and unique in the world of automobiles. It is an Isuzu Amigo. A sporty little two-door with the very unique feature of being a half convertible. It reminds me a little of the Chevy my Dad had when I was born. It was a two-door coupe with a rumble seat where the trunk ought to be. Not that I actually remember that car, you understand, but I have seen pictures of it.

This car has the potential of being a special friend as only a car can be. My first automobile to win my heart was a blue Volkswagen Beetle in 1962. It was fun to drive, went forever on a tank of gasoline and was the only car I ever had stolen. I was only gone for a minute and left my keys in the ignition. Of course, I reported it immediately and the car was recovered in about 30 minutes. The most embarrassing part was admitting to the Ohio Highway Patrol sergeant that I was a police officer and knew better than to leave the keys in the ignition.

Most of our cars have been strictly utilitarian machines designed to haul kids and things around town. We started in “station wagons” when the first kids came along. By the time we had seven kids we really needed a second car and always traveled with two cars. I don’t know what we would have done if we had been required to tie them down with seat belts. Fortunately, we never had an accident where anyone was hurt.

My next four-wheeled sweetheart was a red (of course) 300Z … my dream car that I had always wanted. I drowned that one in the big floods of 1996. It was the morning the Blanco River rose over six feet in about an hour and I did not realize how deep the water was on River Road. Fortunately, the car was the only casualty.

So now I have a new friend. I will try to treat it better and make it last at least another 80K miles. Most of you recognize that we have an on-going love affair with the automobile in America. It is not an entirely healthy love affair. We continue to pollute the air with carbon fumes and to deplete the resource of fossil fuels as though there was plenty and it would last forever. Cars have become a necessity but we must guard against them being a passion.

God has told us to have no other gods before Him. When a car becomes to us a passion, an obsession, it may well have become our god. While cars are the subject here it could be anything, a house, another person and even some thing of almost no worth but that becomes to us more important than God. Take care what you love the most.