T Model Tommy

I love history—especially American history. As a kid growing up in the fifties, I stumbled upon my first favorite book, Stephen Meader's T Model Tommy. I read with wonder as Tommy's Model T truck hauled him and his cargo up and down narrow bands of asphalt and gravel through New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. I can still picture the truck's round headlights illuminating the darkened threadlike road as he sluggishly descended a steep incline. I can hear raindrops pelting the truck's tin roof as Tommy approached a washed out bridge. Such were the challenges of an independent trucker in the 1930's.

When I was a boy, black and white televisions brought The Lone Ranger, Sky King, and Leave it to Beaver into our living room. It was a time when World War II veterans purchased cookie-cutter homes in suburban communities then piled their baby boomer children into station wagons and hit the open road on newly built four lanes. While I enjoyed the advantages of modern travel, T Model Tommy was awakening me to the motoring wonders of an earlier day.

The Kingdom

The good news that Jesus came to preach, did not center on salvation, but rather it centered on His kingdom. Consider these startling statistics:

• There are 117 mentions of the word "kingdom" in the gospels.
• There are 7 mentions of the word "salvation" in the gospels.

Is this fact worth pursuing? Is there something that we have been missing in our understanding of Jesus' primary message?