 Rally Champ
“Three, two, one, go!”
The roar of motors rises as two cars race side by side until one gradually begins to pull ahead.
There’s a touch as the road narrows and both attempt to fill the space. The second car is nudged off the track. It slews across gravel with the driver fighting to correct the slide. He gets back on the track, but now he has to catch up.
Welcome to the exciting world of rally car racing! Computer style.
OK, so computer racing is not as exciting as the real thing. And it makes me wonder why I dressed in helmet, driving gloves and fireproof suit for the game.
I have a couple of five-year-old boys who visit fairly regularly. Yes, I am that old. They’re my twin grandchildren.
Anyway, I was wandering through Harvey Norman’s computer section one day and found a game of Rally 2000 in their this-is-so-old-we-were-about-to-throw-it-out-but-there-might-be-some-idiot-willing-to-give-us-money-for-it bin.
For $10 the game could be mine and I knew the boys would love it. And I could use it for um, er . . . research purposes into computer graphics.
The deal was done. The game was bought. The boys were called.
There was a delay of some two hours while I checked that the game worked correctly before I let them loose. They loved it. I could tell I was favourite grandfather on Planet Earth even if they complained about how long they’d waited.
After awhile, one of them asked if I would race him. Well, of course I would.
He won!
I challenged his brother.
He won!
This was not supposed to happen. How could these little guys beat someone 10 times older and five times bigger? It’s not fair!
About the fifth game I beat one of them. The celebration involved dancing, fist pumping and a chorus from “We Are the Champions” from the study through the dining area to the kitchen.
As I swung her around, she who loves me asked whether I was overemphasising winning in front of the children. Shouldn’t I be teaching good sportsmanship?
As I hung up my helmet I thought about how God thinks of us. Winners or losers. Large or small. Old or young. And the kids’ song came to mind, “Red or yellow, black or white;/ all are precious in His sight./ Jesus loves. . . .”
Jesus loves. You don’t have to win it. You don’t have to be a high achiever. You can’t earn it because it just is—and it’s for everyone. I wish more people knew that.
Must go, the boys are back. Winning is nice, but I’m learning that having fun with the boys is better.
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Bruce Manners (left) is senior pastor of
the Avondale College church.