After we totalled our minivan in January, we decided to not buy a new vehicle right away and just get by with one vehicle. Well, our friends had a 1991 Ford Ranger that had been sitting in their driveway for about the last 5 years. It hadn't moved since I've known them. It wasn't running, but when I asked them if I could have it they said yes. This is what the vehicle looked like when I brought it home. I want you to know I had already started to rinse it off with the hose before I thought to take pictures, so keep that in mind.
Looking pretty good eh? We'll I got some help from a friend to get it started, and cleaned it up a bit. We put in a new battery, oil change, and new tires. I removed the racing stripes and hand buffed it with rubbing compound. Here's what it looks like now.
Quite an improvement isn't it? People who saw the truck before and after have been amazed. I don't think its because of what I've done to it as much as its amazing that you can take something that looks like its ruined and ready for the junk yard and bring it back to something beautiful.
I'm sure there are times when you've felt like you're ready for the junk heap. Times when you feel like everything is ruined, and that all hope is lost. With the Lord, its never over until He says its over. He can turn any life or situation around if you will let Him.
He turns our junk into treasures. I looked at that truck and thought that I could bring it back to a great thing and I did.
God looks at you and as the Bible says He "gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were"(Romans 4:17b). He calls the things of your life that are dead, alive.
Let him restore you today. Let him take those areas of your life that you thought were dead, and bring them back to life. Let Him restore your hope and give you peace. Don't listen to other people when they say that it is over and done.
God is the only one who says when its over, and He is in the business of restoration.
Be blessed today
matt
ps. I know I have a truck now, but I'm busy the day you have to move :) You can borrow it if you want.
Nice truck. The official vehicle of Western Washington.
ReplyDeleteThanks for those words of encouragement. God has definetaly done a restore on my life over the last year and a half. That truck is a good mental image of what he's done in my life. Have a blessed day.
ReplyDeleteSweet truck!
ReplyDeleteWhen GOD is trying to make it clear to you, he will use any and all means necessary! GOD is just too Amazing!! Thank you Pastor Matt...
ReplyDeleteWhat if God wants you to help someone move? Maybe that's just one of the reasons he provided you a truck. Guess you'll know when the time comes, right?
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I love God's before and after pictures when He touches and transforms, renews, and restores people!
ReplyDeleteTruck looks great! Something like that is what we are praying for too! The evergreens in the background make me homesick for Seattle.
Portable Baptistry...its great but too spendy. Here at IHOP we use watering troughs, painted black, and mounted on a raised platform with rolling wheels. The candidate steps up and sits down (works for big people too. You stay nice and dry while they lean back and let you dunk them. Cheap...cheap...cheap...and is actually easier to set up and store than the Portable Baptistry. Thanks for commenting.