Rebuilding

God truly is the great craftsman. With the warming temperatures, I decided it is time to get the Goldwing fully fixed up. So, I have been hacking away at it taking bolts and screws out and sanding down the parts in order to get them repainted.

Above is a picture of the Goldwing with various parts and pieces scattered on the floor of the garage. It's amazing how big the pile gets and what a mess it makes when you start taking things apart. The statement is true that things get worse before they get better.

This Goldwing used to be a complete, well working machine. The paint matched and all the pieces were in the right place. Then, there was an accident, causing much damage to the vehicle. Fiberglass shattered, metal bent and paint chipped. Now, as the owner, I have the task of pulling off the bad parts and replacing them with new; taking a hammer and beating bars back into place; sanding and grinding pieces until they are ready to be painted and put back where they belong. One day, the Goldwing will look the way it did before, but it can be a long process.

While working on this project with my dad the past few days, I thought about humans and I think I understand Jeremiah's picture of the potter and the clay a little bit better, except in a different concept.

We (as a human race) were at one time right with God, created good and full of beauty. Then, there was an "accident" and we are now damaged and broken, yet God saw us as valuable enough to take us and work on us as a craftsman fixing, say, a motorcycle. Throughout our lives, God takes the broken pieces of us and rips them off. A few screws loose here; brackets to bend back in place there; sanding, scraping, bending. It, this thing we call life, can be a painful process where, during years of our lives, God may be bending us back into shape. He may be scraping dirt out of our flesh or he may be sanding scrapes and gouges off our hearts. It hurts, but the end product will be so much better. Each day, each year, piece by piece, we will be shined up more and more as God removes our bad parts and replaces them with shining beautiful pieces. In the end, we will all be full and complete again, the way God wants us to be; shining as we stand in the glory of the Son.

The best part is, we are all works in progress and we will all hit the "paint shop" at the same time. On that last day, when the trumpet sounds, and the sky rolls back and the Son of Man descends from the heavenly throne room, I picture him holding a paint gun, smiling and saying, "are you ready for your final clear coat?"

Holiday

Moon over the lake- 5:15 a.m.






Sleeping by the fire


Sunrise


The biggest holiday in Minnesota happened today: The Walleye Opener. It is a day where every angler of any age heads out to a local lake to try their hand at catching Minnesota's most prized fish. There are many fanatics who will be out on the water at midnight hoping to catch the first fish of the season. Well, we didn't get out that early because of some other details.

Last night, some friends and I helped chaperon the high school after-prom party here in town. It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends, talk with people I hadn't seen for a long time and meet some new people. At the after-prom, there are a bunch of different games for the students to play and we were in charge of running those games and the party lasted from about midnight until 3 in the morning. Since we were up at that time, we decided to go and fish. So, at 4 a.m., we piled in the pickup and headed for the lake.

Above are some pictures from the day. It was a long, but fun day. After all was said and done, we were up all night, with a few naps around the fire.

The worst part: no fish. I did catch a clam though.

Nature amazes me.

Yesterday, I watched as a Robin bounced across the lawn, taking a break here and there to cock his head and listen. He stood as still as a statue and then one more bounce... listen. With a quick jab into the grass, his beak came out with a nice, juicy earthworm. This process was repeated several times.

On the Discovery Channel, I watched part of a show telling about animals and spring time. Two bear cubs rolled around in the grass, wrestling as brothers. One pushed the other over and ran off into the brush, quickly persued by his brother. Two bears so innocent and cuddly eventually will grow up to be one of the most feared beasts in the U.S.; and best fishermen.

Driving home from Bible study, lightening lit up the night sky. All would be dark, then a flash and the texture of height of the clouds would be illuminated for a split second, only to be lost again. More energy is stored up in those clouds than an atomic bomb.

Along with this, the fresh smell of rain. In my opinion, one of the best smells on the face of the earth. I'm convinced that fresh rain smell, is what God smells like.

I long for the day to hear the robins secret, to wrestle those bears, to understand lightening and to smell the fresh rain in the clothes of God Almighty.

Oh what a day that will be!