Everyone Is Special
Modern Subarus are burdened by their greatest strength: easy power. STIs in the American market get 305 horsepower, or roughly what they’ve been making for two decades. But the only STIs with 305 horses may be on dealer lots; more power is just a downpipe and a tune away.
Even the special editions aren’t terribly special. The 2018 STI Type RA got a whopping five additional horses. The new STI S209 gets a larger turbine and compressor, more boost, a high-flow fuel pump, bigger injectors, and a new intake for a total of 36 additional horsepower. Which isn’t much.
This assumes that a car’s value lies in its specific output, and of course that isn’t always the case. For example, the 1998 Impreza STI 22b had 276 horsepower. Nothing to write home about, sure, but have you seen auction prices for those lately? And didn’t the Type RA and S209 have specific chassis and body upgrades? That makes them special, right?
The earth is populated by lots of people, with lots of ideas about what makes us – or anything – special or not. In the Bible, sparrows were sold as cheap food. Jesus used them to explain the disciples’ relative value:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:4-7)
Even these sparrows are remembered by God. In Psalm 84, the psalmist admires their habit of nesting near the altar in the house of the Lord: “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” (Psalm 84:3-4)
These cheap, plentiful, unremarkable birds are named specifically by Jesus as having a value beyond their use at the time. Jesus doesn’t value them because of what they’re worth in money or in protein. He values them because God designed them and made them. The psalmist seems to know this, and values them for drawing near to their Creator, not for eating or selling them.
Constantly evaluating worth is important and even beneficial, except for the times when it’s not. It’s not beneficial when we weigh our worth against what we think someone else is worth, or what we should be worth. Or when we say our problems aren’t worth someone’s time. Or our health isn’t worth taking a break from work. Sometimes, we feel good about our worth because of an accomplishment. This is like valuing sparrows for their cost or protein content, and it is not at all how God operates.
God loves you because you are you. You are “fearfully and wonderfully made; [God’s] works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14) Your hairs on your head are numbered by the God who put them there, even if there are fewer there now than a few years ago. This valuation is worth more than whatever someone else thinks of you. Remember: even “worthless” sparrows were wise enough to draw near to God and be valued by him.
If you feel wrongfully evaluated, maybe the setting is wrong. Maybe you’re like an Impreza STI 22b on a dyno, and your Subaru bros aren’t impressed. Maybe you’re a stock STI being evaluated by S209s, and you’re not special enough for them. Remember: your value is not found in those settings. Right now, someone thinks their STI is special because of how they enjoy it at the track. Maybe it reminds them of their first car, that bug-eye STi from 2003. Maybe Ken Block signed its hood. There are lots of ideas about what makes something special, and Jesus has already shown us the most important one to listen to.
