Why Lies He in Such Mean Estate...

A theme I keep running into this Christmas season is humility. Specifically God's humility.
It all started in a Jordan B. Peterson podcast, where a student asked what kind of character God would have to have to let mankind "win".
He let Abraham negotiate the terms of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction
He let Jacob wrestle with him as an equal. And hence he is called "he who contends with God" - Israel!
And he let mankind murder his Son for a crime he did not commit
This is a humble God, a loving father. Much like a father who sometimes allows his child to win their wrestling matches, because he loves them, because he wants them to succeed, because he wants them to keep running back to his arms for more without becoming demoralised.
We are Israel, for our relationship with God is one of contending, one of wrestling as a strong-willed child does with their father. Sometimes he does let us go our own prodigal way, but he always leaves the way open to come running back to him. Whatever he does, he does out of love.
And so we come to the Christmas story, and one of God's ultimate acts of love.
Had the Innkeeper known the nature of Mary's precious cargo, he would have given up his own bed for the desperate couple.
Just look at Joseph. Once the angel revealed the truth to him, there was little more protest. He did as he was told, as one does when receiving a divine message. No matter that it would look bad for him to claim a child conceived in wedlock as his own.
If Jesus had come to Earth as he deserved, though, you can forget about all that. There would be no manger scene or anything resembling it. No, he would have arrived on clouds of fire at the head of an army of angels! He could take over the world and no one could stop him. Caesar himself would have bowed before him and no one, I repeat, no one, would even be able to look Christ in the eye.
But that's not what happened.
Instead, the God of the universe incarnated himself as a completely helpless and vulnerable infant, born to a pair of peasants in a nothing town in a nation under foreign occupation, his birthing room a filthy stable. Local shepherds were told of him before any kings, those with the least to offer.
What kind of God does that?
An infinitely humble, infinitely loving one.
As those who have been called to live like Christ, what can we do in this regard?
Firstly, specifically for us Christians, and I could write a whole separate post on this, the almighty, omnipresent God of the universe does not need you to defend his honour. I'll elaborate on a later date.
The rest of these are applicable to almost everyone, including me. I might be the one writing this but I'm still working on applying these lessons to my life myself so bear with me.
1) Always allow that you might be wrong. Just because someone disagrees with doesn't mean they're evil (I'm looking at you, SJWs and alt-right), it means they're human. Hear them out. Respect where their ideas come from. Don't exclude. Look for common ground on which to move forward. To open the doors to proper discourse, pride must be swallowed.
2) Moving out of political rant territory (sorry), a another takeaway: be a servant. In other words, help others when it is not required of you or when it does not benefit you to do so. This could look like volunteering more, or simply doing favours for people at work without expecting anything in return.
3) And on a related note, be grateful and show it. Take nothing for granted, and you'll appreciate a lot more of what you're given. They call millenials entitled ingrates, so prove them wrong!
Studies show that people who are the most generous, most serving of others, and most grateful are the happiest. Even if you aren't religious, there is potential benefit in applying these ideas to your life. Think of them as potential New Year's Resolutions perhaps.

A belated Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year too!

My Beef with the Ford GT

Don't get me wrong here, the Ford GT is one of the few legitimately American supercars out there, and thus is truly something special. However, there are parts of it and it's development process that frustrate me greatly. Now I have not driven it - few have - but here are my issues nonetheless.

a) The Engine

Now this complaint has been beaten to death already, but since it is also my largest one, I'll add my 2 cents.

You know all those people saying that Ford "spared no expense" and that the V6 was used because of "packaging" and "efficiency"? Yeah, they're lying to you. Ford did it to save money. On a vehicle they're charging $400,000 USD for. Think about it. Anyone can up the boost on a pre-existing turbo 6-cylinder to make more power, and that's basically what they did here. The 3.5 Ecoboost in the GT shares 70% of its parts with the one in the F-150. The motorsport pedigree of the car is everywhere except in the engine bay. Motorsport-derived engines tend to have small displacement per cylinder, and rev super high to enable maximum power with minimum displacement. 3.5 litres isn't at all small for a 6-cylinder, nor does the engine rev particularly freely. If they wanted to make a proper sporting 3.5 litre, they should have developed a 3.5 V8, rather than skimping and using the V6. Look at McLaren. They make a very similar product, at a cheaper price, only lighter, with a V8 and a better interior, and, at 3.8 litres, their previous V8 had just 300 mls more displacement. A 3.5 or smaller V8 would hardly be too big an ask, especially since they've now worked with a flat-plane crank setup. Speaking of which, it's not like Ford is incapable of building a properly charismatic power plant - just look at the Shelby GT350 - the main reason it's taken the car world by storm IS that magnificent Voodoo engine. So the packaging argument is BS 'cause they could've always made a V8 small enough to fit. The efficiency argument is also BS because when your running that much boost, your fuel economy goes to shit as soon as the turbos are spooled. And in Track mode on the GT, they're constantly kept that way, meaning you'll be lucky if you get 16 mpg.

b) The Transmission

This is less an issue with the GT's transmission and more a complaint about how Ford has wasted their transmission R&D money. They developed a 7 speed dual-clutch for the GT, which is awesome, given that DCTs are the fastest, smoothest transmissions out there. However, Ford then goes and works with the competition (GM) to develop a 10 speed torque-converter automatic. Here's a radical, money-saving, idea - why not just develop ONE high performance transmission? They could have used the money they would have saved to develop a proper engine for the GT! And if adding more gears to improve performance and efficiency across the lineup was the goal, why not just engineer a 9-speed DCT like Acura did for the NSX? Then they could have the best automatic transmission out of all the American and avoided giving GM a leg up in the process!

c) The Choice of Race Series 

On one hand, it makes perfect sense. The original GT40 was created to win at Le Mans, after all. However, things get more complicated when you put them in broader context. 

Firstly, all of the "big boys" in the WEC (World Endurance Championship) compete in the LMP1 class (Le Mans Prototype 1), whereas Ford runs the new GT racecar in the GTE class, which doesn't currently contain any big-manufacturer competition for Ford, allowing them to dominate. This is sad, because originally the GT40 was built to stick it to Ferrari on the Circuit de la Sarthe, but now they're not really sticking it to any big manufacturer on any track. Back in the days of the GT40, Le Mans was seen as the ultimate test of a manufacturer's 'supercar cred'. Nowadays all the supercar heavyweights fight it out in the GT3 racing series instead. If Ford wanted to truly capture the "beating the best on their own turf" spirit of the original GT40 with the new car, they would've either entered it in GT3, or started an LMP1 program instead. As it is, running in GTE makes them look afraid of competition. Thankfully, BMW is planning on entering their upcoming M8, but that won't arrive for a while, ensuring Ford at least another couple years of dominance in that class. And what are the odds that once the Beamer arrives, and the road-going GT's production run is up, Ford will withdraw from the WEC all over again, lest someone truly challenge their crown? Not only that, but questions still remain as to how the car stacks up on the track compared to the other elite supercars with which it shares a price bracket. Ones that are lighter, and more powerful. Only time will tell, but I believe that once those results start arriving, the new GT will take a giant depreciation hit indeed.

And Lastly,

d) The Interior

Look at literally every other supercar in the price range. All of them have a better interior on offer for as much or less money than is being asked for the new GT. 'Nuff said.

Rant(s) over.

It would still be a great privilege to drive one and I still envy those who can afford one, but I'm not sure that it can live up to the hype Ford has created for it in the end.