repair

Dad has money, but he never buys new stuff if he can repair the old. 

·        I watched him sit in the living room one entire evening and re-stitch the heel of his boots to the leather.

·        He fixed the dishwasher.

·        He always did repairs on our cars.

·        He patched the hole in his tent.

·        He fixed the lawn mower.

·        He took apart a broken camera and got it working again. 

It takes so much time and effort to fix something instead of tossing it and buying a new one.  Investigation to figure out the problem.  Taking it apart piece by piece.  Cleaning.  Finding the right parts -sometimes fabricating new parts.  Fixing.  Putting it back together piece by piece.  It requires determination and know-how. 

Jesus said, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”  (Matthew 11:5) 

Jesus fixes broken people. 

“…he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...”  (Isaiah 61:1) 

What is broken in your life?  All you need is a good Repairman.

plagued by the same sin

My blood pounded in my ears when Grandma pulled out the keys to her '67 Chevy and told me it would be mine to use as soon as I got my driver's license.  It was a massive tank, with a steering wheel a good two-feet in diameter, but I didn't care.  I was going to have my own car to drive in high school!  It came equipped with an a-ooga horn and an eight-track tape player.

One time that a-ooga horn malfunctioned when I was driving downtown.  It was loud and sickly sounding, and cars started pulling over because they thought some kind of an emergency vehicle was coming.

I loved that car, but I had so much trouble remembering to put gas in it. 

Dad brought a gas can when I got around the block from home one day and sputtered to a stop. 

Dad brought a gas can to Taco John's after dark to fill my tank.

I lose count of how many other times I ran out of gas, and dad didn't seem to keep track.  Every time I called he came to my rescue.  Annoyed.  But he always came.

“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3) 

I fill my gas tank now.  It took a while, but I finally got it.