The Boss Who Knows Pain
The 1997 Boss Shinoda Mustang was a rare special edition built in memory of one of Detroit’s most influential designers and engineers in history: Larry Shinoda, who died in 1997. Shinoda established himself in the burgeoning hot rod scene of the 1950s by building and racing hot rods at California’s Dry Lakes. He went on to design the legendary 1963 split-window Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray and its 1968 successor, and of course the rare 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302.
“Boss” refers to both the car and the man many of those Ford folks knew and loved. Shinoda had a long tenure in Detroit and an enviable auto career. But it came after a painful upbringing. Although he was born in the United States in 1930 and grew up in California, Shinoda’s Japanese ethnicity made him an enemy in the eyes of his fellow Americans during World War II. He spent part of his teenage years as a prisoner in the Manzanar Relocation Center internment camp.
Perhaps it was Shinoda’s familiarity with suffering that made him such a beloved boss. Can you imagine a better listener to any personnel dispute – workplace discrimination, injustice – than him?
Stories about Jesus describe a similar familiarity with suffering:
“Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out – the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, ‘Don’t cry.’” (Luke 7:11-13)
Jesus, moved in his heart, brought this boy back to life (v. 15). It was one of three times he raised someone from the dead, and in each account, a deep compassion from his heart preempts his miraculous work.
Jesus’ life would be filled with death and suffering. His cousin, the prophet John the Baptist, would soon be beheaded. The “large crowd” eating up his miracles (literally) would soon turn on him, although some would become disciples who would later be killed for following him. Even living in Roman occupation at this time placed him near the brutal, gladiatorial blood sport cherished by Roman citizens – even the so-called sophisticates.
With this pain in his heart, Jesus doesn’t retreat into isolation, rejection, and bitterness. He is moved to love. Out of compassion, Jesus builds, restores, creates, inspires, empowers, and leads. His words continue to have this effect in people who live by them. He suffers with you and builds you up, and invites you to do the same whenever you encounter suffering.
The brilliant 20th-century mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead thought of God as “the fellow sufferer who understands.” He suffers in his heart, suffers with his people, and suffers with great effort to help his people feel and know God’s presence throughout every instance of suffering. There’s an end to the suffering – a new life in Christ where God will “wipe every tear from their eyes,” with “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4) – and God is suffering to bring that life to as many people as possible.
The Boss Shinoda Mustang got plenty of Boss 302-inspired treatment, including rally stripes, front and rear spoilers, and badges. It also had a 302-cubic-inch 5.0-liter (more or less) V8, although output was a few dozen horsepower down from the 1969 Boss’s V8. Both Boss models are rare, and finding a good example may involve a little suffering. But it’s worth it. It’s yet another way you can feel the presence of God.
John V16 is the intersection of God and cars. Please support our work and donate a V16-powered 1940 Cadillac Series 90 Sixteen to John V16. Or share this article with a friend.
