Devotional: Project

On one of my television shows, a seller showed up pulling a trailer with a snarly looking Ferrari.  The front fender was held on by a strip and a bolt.  the right side door looked like it had played a game of twister and lost.  Much of the ascetically pleasing parts were flung somewhere between the inside of the car trailer and the rear seat of the car.  The rear bumper was cracked, chipped, dented and missing a large chunk on the right.  The front hood was destroyed and no where to be found.  The tires on the right were missing, the seats had vanished and it looked less like a car and more like a horrible experiment gone wrong.  The damage looked like it was the result of going too fast, too long, and too near a barrier or tree.  I'm sure the road was wide and inviting and the destruction was unexpected and grave.

After unloading the car, the seller and the restoration shop owner agreed to a price and the hard work would soon begin.  The shop owner believed that despite its bumps, bruises and twisted metal the heart of a great car still existed and there was a tremendous amount of value still left.  For the owner, it was worth the price, and it would be worth the hard work of rebuilding and restoring.  

Does this car remind you of something?  It reminds me of my life.  I went too fast on a road that wasn't quite right.  I went too long on this track and I got too close to the edges and barriers; too close to the "tree" and I never corrected my course.  In the fast lane of life I crashed and my life became twisted, wrecked and my condition was grave.  Outwardly I'm sure there wasn't much that looked attractive when he found me in my brokenness.  But the one who found me, he knew a thing or two about restorations. He saw my true value.  Beneath the wreckage, dirt, and damage he saw a child worth dying and rising for.  He saw someone he could restore, redeem, and save. 

The hard work of the car restoration took time, effort, money and patience.  The crew had to tear out, and rebuild.  Some parts of the car had to be replaced and others were restored to their original condition through loving hands; sewing, welding or sandblasting.  It took time.  It went in phases, a little at a time.  The restoration of the car is so very similar to what God does in our hearts.  It is taking time.  He is making all the effort and paid the highest price.  There are parts that must be chiseled and cut out, some places that need to be welded and permanently fixed.  Attitudes and thoughts must be remade, restored and renewed.  Our role in all of this is to be chiseled, welded, unhooked, re-fabricated, sandblasted and restored while patiently waiting and depending on Him.