Ford vs. Ferrari (Who am I? Series, Part 1) with Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney
Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney begin week one of our three part “Who am I?” series with Ford vs Ferrari. We discover we were rescued for a reason. What is your reason? There’s a vast difference between living a 6,000 RPM life of safety and security, and pushing your life to 7,000 RPM with risk and adventure. And we must go through our initiation so that, when life does push our limits, we don’t soil ourselves. Start your engines, and let’s go after the perfect lap.
Join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie.
Quotes
We are born again to become dreamers.
Just beyond the edge is freedom, and the life of risk, faith, and adventure. When you go beyond is when you know who you really are.
You don’t find out what’s real when things are going well.
Our children want to see us chase our dreams.
The pursuing of dreams is reciprocal.
You have to be careful with your dreams. If you share them too early, someone will try to blow them out.
“It’s about right now the uninitiated soil themselves.” This is what happens when we say, “I wasn’t ready for… (fill in the blank).” If we go into those situations uninitiated, we will crap ourselves.
You can’t lead people to a place where you haven’t been.
We have a choice when confronted with failure: will we fold or will we fight?
Winning takes commitment, not a committee.
We need to know when to take it easy, and when we can punch it.
It’s not a matter of who is fastest, it’s a matter of who can last.
Winning and losing doesn’t matter as much as the joy of being in the zone.
Maybe some people will like this and some people won’t, but what I created was what it’s meant to be.
You have to run your race at God’s pace.
Themes
“Who am I?”
We were rescued for a reason.
The difference between living a 6,000 (safety) and 7,000 (adventure) RPM life.
We need a woman who will encourage us to live our dreams, who knows our hearts. And we encourage and enable our wives to live their dreams.
Living out your dreams: Ford’s badge to that point meant reliability. It takes a change in thinking and action to change it to victory.
When you come up with a creative idea, pursuing your dream and adventure, others will hate you for it. We must be prepared for the resistance that will happen.
We must be initiated for the speed and adventure that God will call us into, for the simultaneous feelings of terror and joy.
We can choose to play it safe and cross the finish line, or risk everything to try to win. And those moments when you risk everything and lose, that’s the moment when the uninitiated soil themselves.
Goals and dreams are not linear progressions. You will have setbacks and failures along the way.
Sometimes what seems like a failure (like Shelby’s heart condition) takes us out of what we think we want to do (drive race cars) in order to get us in position for something truly life changing (designing race cars).
Ken and Shelby were committed to each other, because they were both chasing the same thing.
We must manage our hearts (like a car) to be able to handle the pressure that the world puts on us.
We can only chase the things we can control. We can’t guarantee the results. All we can guarantee is that we do our best.
Winning isn’t dependent on anyone else, it’s dependent on doing what it is we are supposed to do. Reimagining what success truly is will heal your heart.
Have the same mind that Jesus had
Resources
“But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot” - Jeremiah 20:9“For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I don’t preach the gospel!” - I Corinthians 9:16
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” - James 1:2
“Many women do noble things but you exceed them all.” - Proverbs 31:29
“Be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” - Matthew 10:16
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” - Ephesians 6:13
“Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us.” - Hebrews 12:1
“For I have come down from heaven, not do do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” - John 6:38
Questions
What’s the pace of your life? How high are your RPM’s in your everyday experience?
What are you striving for? Dreaming of?
If we are rescued for a reason, what’s your reason?
Where have you stopped dreaming? Said it’s too late?
What are your biggest dreams?
Who criticizes your dreams? Who speaks life into them?
What fear keeps you from following your dreams?
When have you felt the simultaneous emotions of terror and joy?
What matters more, reliability or victory? How can they align? How are they different?
Would you rather be known as a man who always played it safe, or a man who risked everything? What are the pros and cons of each?
When confronted with failure, will you fold or will you fight?
Who do you know who is chasing the same things you are?
How’s your heart?
How much margin do you have?
If a catastrophe happened (house burns down, family member dies, lockdown, etc.), how do you think you can handle it?
How do you handle the pressure that life puts on you?
What are you chasing?
How do you define winning and losing?