Allow God’s Timing
The car Toyota needed to produce to satisfy World Rallycross Championship homologation requirements was the Celica All-Trac Turbo. Its 2.0-liter turbo pumped out an even 200 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels via a full-time AWD system with a viscous-coupling center differential. Pricing started at $20,000, or about $3,000 more than its main competition: the Mitsubishi Eclipse. A 1989 G1 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX also had all-wheel-drive and a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, and nipped the All-Trac to 60 by half a second or more. Nevertheless, Toyota made its sales requirements, and the Celica All-Trac competed.
A fashionable and functional hood scoop drew air into the top-mount liquid-to-air intercooler, cooling the intake charge. And that little nostril flanking the hood scoop was intended for one thing only: cooling the timing belt. Because the intercooler sat flush against the hood scoop, all of that air went to power production instead of cooling and venting engine bay components, so the nostril had to be added. Because what happens when a high static compression ratio, boost, and high RPM operation aren’t timed perfectly? A pocket rocket becomes a grenade.
You must run by the right timing.
In the Bible, a guy named Jairus had an emergency and needed Jesus’ immediate assistance. Jairus, the synagogue ruler, met Jesus and rushed him to his house to save the life of his dying12-year-old daughter. Along the way, someone interrupted. The woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years reached out to touch Jesus, and “immediately” she was healed. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace, and be healed of your suffering.” (Mark 5:34)
No such immediacy was offered to Jairus, except the immediate news that his daughter was now dead. Jairus’ friends urged him to stop bothering Jesus. It was too late anyway. But Jesus, “ignoring what they said, told the synagogue ruler, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe.’” (vs. 36)
With an eternal view of things, Jesus could have said, “Pay attention to what I just did, you knucklehead. I have power to do anything. Your daughter will be fine.” But he had patience with an impatient person.
God’s timing and his patience with people who don’t understand his timing are equally astounding. As humans, our only concept of time comes from its passage. C.S. Lewis once said, “A human should be no more surprised by the passage of time than a fish by the wetness of water.” It continues to baffle us though, or perhaps we baffle ourselves when we use our misplaced urgency to demand a different timeline than what God operates on.
Nevertheless, God is patient with us. Through Old Testament prophets, he gave hope that their suffering operated on a timeline that was well under his control, and would one day turn to victory:
“For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands. They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendents with them.” (Isaiah 65:22b-23)
Like Jairus’ friends, the people in Isaiah’s time could have bucked against God’s timing. But like a pressurized engine without adequate airflow, things would have gotten explosive. We can allow God’s timing or not, but it’s going to happen.
A long, happy life with many descendents were the highest prize for God’s people back then, and God told them it was coming. Jesus told Jairus that his daughter would be healed. He told people that he came to give life, and the bleeding woman believed.
He tells us today to have hope in him, the God of all these promises. Not that the thing we want will be handled, but that it’s been handled and it’s being handled. God is already at work, he has already done work, and he will continue to work. The faith, the belief, the unobstruction of his timing, is what he’s after, and we’re all in for a rough go of things until we recognize that. When we run to Jesus, clinging to him and presenting our requests to him, we’re vocalizing the belief that he is at work in his timing, and we just want to submit to it.
Nearly 30 years after All-Trac production ended, these things are rare. Although they were produced during all four years of the fifth-generation Celica’s production run (1990-1993), many were raced to death, legally or illegally. If you want to buy one, or even see one, be prepared to practice patience. It will come when it needs to.
