The season I learned to put God before cars

When I was around 12 years old I remember sitting in one of my parents Alfa Romeo’s and praying “Lord, please don’t let me die until I can drive!” When I was 18 I bought my dad’s 1975 Alfa Romeo Alfetta (I don’t have any video but the one I posted below sounds the same and looks very similar).

While it might not look that impressive to you these days it was quite desirable back in the 80’s. I loved the leather interior, dual weber racing carbs, smooth 5 speed manual transmission and excellent handling. That car was fun to drive – the engine in the front and transmission in the rear. I really liked that car and thought it had so much potential. When I was in high school my friends would comment on it and I was delighted to be able to make it my own. I ended up spending most of my money on parts and almost all my time trying to fix it up.

Somehow it got a hold of my heart and got in my way of my relationship with God – it had become an idol in my life. I had been spending time growing in my faith and serving God but soon I swapped reading my Bible with looking through parts catalogs and any service manuals I could find. eventually I ended up working three jobs to help pay for my rent, food and car parts. When I wasn’t driving it I was thinking about it and how I was going to make it go faster and look cooler. I’m not sure if God had anything to do with it or if it was just because it was a temperamental Italian car that I was driving hard but it kept needing repairs and in the end I ended up selling it to some guy for parts for his racing car. It was a fun car and I would love to have another like it, but this time I would make sure that it doesn’t become a time and money robbing idol. At least I was young and it was a good season for me to learn to be careful not to get distracted by cars and possessions.

So much potential – so fun to drive

Here’s a pic of me during that time frame standing next to an Alfa Spider