I’m writing articles
about classic car collectors and their labor intensive restoration projects.
One man has been working on his pickup restoration for 11 years and the pieces
and parts are scattered all over his garage. Another man, who spent three years
stripping his 4X4 Ford down to the frame and doing a complete restoration, now
drives his truck to car shows. Paul wrote about the need for restoration of a
believer caught in a sin, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are
spiritual should restore him gently” (Gal 6:1a NIV). I’m not wondering how many
of us might have started a spiritual restoration with a fellow believer and then
rather than finishing, we left spiritual pieces and parts scattered all over
place.
1 comment:
Gail;
-----My intention wasn’t to restore my ‘57 Ford convertible. For some reason, my 18 year-old mind couldn’t quite see it as ever being a classic worth much money. That kind of thing was for Duesenbergs, Ferraris, Cobras, Cords, Austin-Healeys (but not Sprites, like the one I have now which needs restored.) I stripped my old Ford to the frame. Dashboard, wiring, seats, carpet, doors, everything came off, including all of the suspension parts. I put the suspension back together with new grommets, ball joints, tie-rod ends, every joint and connection got renewed. I rebuilt the engine and even the brakes. It had plenty rust holes. So I discounted its value as a restoration even more. I struck up Dad’s torch and cut five holes in the floorboard through which I attached well braced roll bars that snuggled Pinto buckets in the front and a Pinto rear-seat for the back. Between the Pinto buckets I built a nice console with, yes, of course, true to the times, an eight track tape player. Then I chopped down and modified a Hurst floor shifter for the three-speed overdrive transmission I put in it.
-----Like you noted about many restoration projects, I never completely finished my ‘57 Ford convertible. But moreover, I did to it what gets done by many brother and sister restoration jobs. I modified it from what the factory intended. People don’t think about the basics of individuality enough to appreciate how different we really are from each other in subtle ways.
-----I was once a restoration project. But I did not bring myself to any brother or sister for the rebuild. I too much appreciated the subtle differences between people and the great benefit the Lord’s body gains from it. Moreover, I did not need guilt trips placed upon me for what I understood as acceptable before the Lord that another understands as rejected by the Lord. I know that neither the gentleman’s 11-year pickup project nor my Austin-Healey Sprite will ever restore themselves. But I was neither a pickup nor a Sprite. The fact that I had a lot of repentance to do, the Word of God to inform me, the Holy Spirit to synchronize the information, and the Lord to bless my efforts gave me the confidence to rebuild myself.
-----Like with my old convertible, I left some parts scattered around, and I never gave myself a fancy paint job. And I always realized I could have done a better job with competent help. But I never felt anyone I knew had the appropriate competence to rebuild me like the Lord needed me to be. Yet looking back over the thirty-seven years, I find many, many, many hands of brothers and sisters tightening a bolt here, pounding out a dent there, patching tires, and trimming rust holes. But never have I allowed one of those hands to point its paint gun at me. I too much like the rough, rustic, realistic look.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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