pick n' pull

we’re doing this series called “full service summer” for our midweek program this summer in the middle school ministry. each week, we’ll look at a different car part (steering wheel, muffler, headlights, etc) and use it to make a spiritual analogy. so I thought I would go out to pick n’ pull to get some car parts to use as illustrations.

pick n’ pull fascinates me. there are thousands of cars there, and each one has a story to tell. whenever I’m there (which is not often,) I browse through the vehicles and I wonder about who owned them, how the car got wrecked, and what the car was for. the cars themselves share their stories. some of the cars have clearly been on fire. some of them have all of their airbags deployed. some of them have been customized. I saw a few vans today that must have been quite the party vehicle in their day. they had carpet on the walls, tvs mounted in them, and ice coolers too. you can tell who used to use the vehicles by what is left behind in them: smokers leave cigarette butts, women leave behind girly steering wheel covers, children leave behind stickers, drinkers leave behind beer bottles, gangsters leave behind their tags.

a trip to pick n’ pull is also a little sad as well. as I walk through the aisles I think to myself that all of these cars were once brand new and clean. someone went into debt for each one, and drove them off of the car lot with pride. many of these cars were someone’s “baby.” but now they are here in the junkyard, ripped to pieces, essentially worthless. what once was brand new and expensive is now filthy, smashed and worthless.

as a youth pastor, I have seen many brand new faiths. I watched them on the night they were born at a camp or a youth event. just like those new cars, those new faiths were exciting and full of potential. there was no limit to the adventure that could be had. as a youth pastor I have seen many faiths crash and burn as well. a few bad decisions, and what was once beautiful is now in pieces.

as I walk through pick n’ pull I think, “will my car ever end up here? what would it take for my car to end up here?” it would take a disaster. a lack of judgment, an accident. or ignoring the warning signs and the call for maintenance.
what about my faith? would it ever crash? if it could happen to others, couldn’t it happen to me?

not every car ends up in the junk yard. some cars are more valuable today than the day they were purchased. some cars are old, yet they are as shiny as ever and their engines know how to purr and roar. some cars are old, but they aren’t junk, instead, they are classics. I don’t want my faith to end up in the junkyard; but I need to realize that if it could happen to someone else, it could happen to me.
just like a car, if my faith gets broken, I need to have it fixed, not give up on it.

my dad used to restore cars. and I’ve seen him take a car that was left for junk and make it like new again. I've seen a person's faith be restored too. every now and then we need a tune up, or an overhaul, but even a junked car can be renewed and restored.
that’s the thing about cars and about faith-
its never too broken or too late to be made new again.

“then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. and I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. and I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
ezekiel 36 (nlt)

God is love.
-rev-rob