By Doug De Graffenried
When I was a little boy, keys were my thing. I loved keys. I loved real keys.
I had a reliable source of keys too. My grandfather was a police officer. It seems that back in the 60’s people would lose keys at a very high rate. Pop would bring me bags of keys from time to time. I’m sure I was only receiving three or four at a time, but to me they appeared as a mountain of plenty.
I had a key ritual. I would separate out the door and house keys from the car keys.
Back in the day, each motor company had a key design unique to that motor company. For this article we will illustrate using the Ford Motor Company. Because Ford also made Mercury products the keys were interchangeable. If you worked at it, you might discover a Mercury car key would fit a Ford product.
One Friday night, Pop stopped by with a bag of keys. I quickly sorted the keys. I took the car keys outside for an experiment.
I don’t know how I knew this, but I had a couple of Mercury keys which I took outside. I crawled into the driver’s seat of our 1961 Ford Galaxy and started testing keys. The Mercury ignition keys would fit into the Ford ignition. (You remember, of course the difference between the ignition keys and the trunk keys?) While the Mercury keys fit into the ignition, they would not turn the tumblers.
My key experiment was nearly completed when I put a Mercury key into the ignition and turned it. The 1961 Ford Galaxy roared to life. I then followed the pattern I had learned from adults. I pulled the shift lever down into “D.” “D” meant go!
The car lurched forward and traveled about five feet into the side of the house. The dent in the house was still there 40 years later!
Thus began my illustrious driving career.
The adults filed out of the house. Mom, Dad and Pop the police office all asked, “How did you start the car?” I shared my key knowledge. Pop cut off my Ford Motor key supply. I did have a large collection of General Motors keys that I had decided to try on whoever owned one of those cars. Pop owned a Chevrolet. I had developed a testing plan for that automobile.
Jesus has given us the keys to the Kingdom. No need to be locked in or locked out. You have the keys. Often you have the power to set yourself free.
Doug de Graffenried is Pastor of Trinity Methodist Church in Ruston.
You can contact Doug at dougsponderings@gmail.com
