If race cars had existed back in Jesus’ day, I bet He could have made this year’s Indianapolis 500 race into a parable.

The winner, 24-year-old American Alexander Rossi, was a 66-1 long shot. He was not the most experienced. His rivals were faster, and a handful of them had dominated the race. He wasn’t given much mention until the final few laps, when I heard a commentator say Rossi’s strategist was directing him to do something different.

That strategy was to slow down.

Rossi followed those instructions, making his gas stretch so he didn’t have to make a pit stop like all the rest. He got to the finish line first, then he ran out of gas and had to be towed for his victory lap.
But so what? His team was ecstatically jumping up and down at their unexpected win. It was, for me, a David vs Goliath kind of victory.

Team co-owner Brian Herta was the guy screaming the conserve-your-fuel strategy into Rossi’s ear those last few laps.

“I can’t overstate how hard it was for Alex to do what I was asking of him on the radio,” Herta said, as quoted in an AP article.

“I was focused on taking it one lap at a time,” Rossi said in that same article, describing his roller coaster of feelings as such that he thought he might “need to see a psychiatrist after this.”

But then, isn’t that situation a bit similar to the life we choose as committed Christians? God often tells us to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

It can be powerfully hard to follow directions given to us by Jesus, His Church and her saints. Often those instructions seem to make about as much sense as slowing down at the end of a high-speed race.
Making ourselves love instead of hate, seek peace when we’d prefer revenge, be silent when we want to defend ourselves — all of that takes a personal toll.

St. Teresa of Avila, as she taught those counter-cultural strategies to conquer everyday evil, assures us it will work “provided you don’t lose your mind.”

Let’s keep listening to our strategist, and aim for that sweet, heavenly victory — one lap at a time.