I discovered a flat tire on my car the other day. It wasn’t totally flat, but it was going flat. Then as I drove to the Service Center to get some air I heard the distinctive rhythmic click, click, click of a nail in the tire. Somewhere along the line I picked up a nail. I wasn’t sure exactly where the nail was, but I knew I had one in the tire. I pumped the tire back up, drove back home, and started scanning the tire for the nail. My son found it before I did. Reaching out his finger he said “There it is!” Just as it looked like he was going to pull the nail out, I quickly said, “No, don’t touch it. At this point, that’s why the tire isn’t going totally flat.”

I left the nail in the tire, parked the car, and didn’t drive it until it was repair time. Yesterday morning, a quick call to the Tire Spot had me rolling once again with a plug in the tire instead of the nail.

‘Stella’ Is Back on the Road!

While at the tire shop the manager took a look at my tires and quickly said, “Oh my, you need new tires.” I explained to him I knew that, but I plan to wait until the spring to replace the tires. After all, in a few more weeks I’ll be parking the car for the winter anyway. While I was waiting for the tire to be repaired I asked the manager how much new tires would cost. After chatting about the price, he then started telling me what the different letters on my race tires mean. Apparently the current tires I have on my ‘Stang are rated for 100 to 120 mph. He then said I could go up a grade to tires that are rated for 150 mph! Yee haw!

The need for speed! Sounds great to me! However, when I went home and informed my wife of the tire speed rating she just rolled her eyes. (I guess I won’t be upgrading to the 150 mph tires.) But then again, do I really need tires that are rated at 150 mph? Of course the boy inside of me that likes toys hollers “YES!” Then reality sinks in and I realize going 150 mph, while it might be fun for a few seconds, could get costly if I’m near a police officer.

In the classic 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Matthew Broderick’s character, Ferris Bueller says the ever-popular phrase, “Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you might miss it.”

Many people these days never think to slow down and look around. Instead, in this instant-popcorn microwave culture we live in, many feel a need for speed is better than stopping and looking around from time to time. Why is the Ferris Bueller movie so popular? Is it because it’s about a bunch of kids skipping school? That could be part of the reason. But, I think there’s more here than just what we see on the surface. Ferris Bueller gives us an example of someone making a transition from one portion of life, high school, to another portion of life, college. But, he wants to make sure he slows down long enough to see what’s going on around him too. He doesn’t want to miss out on the simple things in life, like taking part in a parade.

Are you feeling a need for speed today? Is life moving fast and you’re afraid you’re missing what’s going on around you? Why not take some time today and slow down for a while. Take a look around you and see a few things you may have missed yesterday.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus