My Affair With a Mercedes!

So one of my husband’s passions is Cars - he blogs about them, films them, photographs them and oos and aaass about them. He could tell you the in’s and out’s of the latest wheels on the street like it was general knowledge. I on the other hand, am far from a car chick….thank goodness this was not why he married me :). For me cars are about getting me from A to B comfortably and reliably. ….i.e. the car shouldn’t make any scary noises and it doesn’t need to go to fast. Well all this changed when I had a one-day-stand with the Mercedes Benz C-180 Blue EFFICIENCY something something.

You see the Pug, our loyal 9yr old Peugeot family car, finally made a sound that was too scary for me to drive to work….yup the clutch broke, and it just so happened that that week Avon was test driving the Mercedes Benz C180 something something. I don’t normally drive the cars he evaluates for his blog simply because I never really felt the need to. But also because deep down I have a fear that it may ignite the materialistic-Kanya in me. As much as my husband loves cars and everything about them, he has this wonderful skill of detaching himself from making the car His identity. He can appreciate and respect a good fast and furious car, and still say to me “Kanya at the end of the day…it is just a car!” I must say for a wife this is quite comforting to know coz I have some faith that he wouldn’t rock up one day having spent all our savings on a Red, two-door, Ferrari something, something.

So back to my Mercedes experience – It was 6am and time for me to hit the N1 North to Pretoria. The white clean Mercedes C180 sat silently waiting for me. I opened the door and slipped into the comfortable seat which hugged my bum with that feeling of “Morning Kanya!!! You feelin good today?” I smile then buckle up and the seat belt sucks me in with some automated system which felt like the car was actually grabbing me for a morning hug and whispering “Girl are you ready for this?” My heart gets fluttered. I start the engine and drive out of my complex. As I hit the streets at this early hour I feel myself get excited with each acceleration. This automatic system made me feel like the car was driving me and not that I was driving the car. I stop and tell myself … “Kanya relax it is just a car!” But the sound of the car was telling me “No Girl I am sooo much more!”….I needed help because I could feel myself falling into temptation with every turn and hill. So I try to find Impact Radio…thinking that maybe listening to some good Christian music would calm me and help me humble myself.

But by the time I had found Impact radio I was already halfway through my journey and I was so far gone in Mercedesness (Yup I said it). I was now “Kanya the sexy, smooth Merc-Morning-driver, Queen of the N1!” Cars were moving out of the way for me like I owned the highway and I wasn’t even going fast. I was cruising with the cool-cats….the Audi-what-nots and the Subarus-who-knows…These were the cars I used to move out of the way for when I drove the Pug. Wow Life felt good even though it was a Monday morning…I didn’t feel Blue at all. I felt Blue Efficiency. lol

Sho then I reached my final destination, I wanted MORE Mercedes. I wanted THIS MERCEDES and I wanted it NOW. How much could this car possibly be? Surely God could bless me with a good car like this? This Car is Soo me soo Kanya?

I stepped out of the car and reality hit me! BAM! I felt like I had just had an affair with another car – a One-day-stand, like I cheated on the Pug or something and wasn’t quite sure how to respond. I never thought I could feel like this about another car. I could finally understand what my husband appreciated and respected in Mercedes cars. But as great as the experience was I suddenly realised how vulnerable my heart was to idolising this beauty…I want! I need! I deserve! It all caught me off guard...I wasn’t expecting to fall into the idolising trap like this…so early in the morning too. I guess it is like how any affair starts – it catches you off guard….when you least expect it..and when you are at your most vulnerable.

So my heart to heart with God goes like this. Lord you know the desires of my heart...you know my every need and weakness. Forgive me for ever thinking I deserve the things of this world because really I deserve nothing when I look at the price Jesus paid for my sins. Yes I would love to be blessed by the finer things in life – like a Mercedes C180. But I pray that you only grant me these things when my heart is ready to accept them. …I think I am ready now. :) Amen