My race car

We've all seen the race cars of NASCAR...every conceivable color combination is out there. One of the things I like about them is all the decals on the cars and driver suits. The labels allow the team to identify who they are and who sponsors them. In many cases, the announcers don't even refer to the cars by the driver or race team name...it's simply "the 18 car." (NASCAR fans know all the car numbers.)

Imagine if each of us wore labels on the outside that identified who we are. What kind of decals or patches would we apply? What would others say we should wear? We might be surprised to learn that our self-described labels are probably different from the ones others would suggest for us. You may disagree and argue that people shouldn't be given labels. But don't all of us, when we think of or see others, label them?

There are the familiar labels...labels for our gender, sexual orientation, political party, ideological position, ethnicity, socio-economic status, citizenship, marital status, personality, health status, age, interests, geographic identification.... and on and on.

Let's see...my "car" could be labeled: short bald pudgy healthy white married American straight baby-boomer male Republican conservative middle-class Southerner ESTP (Myers Briggs personality type) business owner Bulldawg musician camper dog-lover...and that's just a start. Man...wouldn't my car look cool?

Every race fan knows that the most important decal goes on the hood...that's the major sponsor's position. What label would go on your car's hood? Are you most identified by your job? the initials after your name? your social status? your financial status? your relationship status? your family heritage?

As a Christian, my desire is for my relationship with Jesus Christ to have the primary position..the most important label. But honestly, I think there are times when I relegate that decal to the quarter panel. Seems I have other sponsors that I allow to become most important. But my job, my money, my social status have no eternal value. My relationship with Christ does...

How do you want to be identified? What would your car look like?