Introspection: Re-cut, Repainted, and Unscrewed

Developed from thoughts shared at Hugo Salkehatchie 2010.
I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.


Re-cut, Repainted, and Unscrewed

Scripture:

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for Him!

Isaiah 30:18 (TNIV)

A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in Your grace

From "From the Inside Out" by Joel Houston (Hillsong United)

Last year, a minister friend got me involved in a ministry called Salkehatchie Summer Service. This work camp ministry of the United Methodist Church gives youths and young adults the opportunity to spend a week in summer providing home repair for those in need. It also gives them the chance get out of their comfort zones, to learn new skills, to build new relationships, and to reflect on how God has spoken to them as they work and fellowship throughout the week. For two years now, I have attended the Hugo Camp, a camp for young adults that serves the southern coastal region of South Carolina, and each time I have counted my experience a blessing.

This year, I had the opportunity to work on a double wide mobile home, and I spent a lot of time repairing damaged floors. This process involves first pulling up the flooring or carpet. Next, the rotten section of the subfloor is cut out, and the old insulation is removed. After that, lateral supports for the floor joists are cut and screwed into place. Once all floor joists and lateral supports are level, the new subfloor is cut and screwed into place. I was privileged to be involved in all parts of this process at some point during the week.

Sometimes the work went swimmingly. I particularly enjoyed cutting the lateral supports for the floor joists; however, my inexperience with power drills caused me some difficulty in screwing the supports into place. Sometimes complications arose, requiring me to redo some of my work. At one point, the floor was uneven, so we needed to screw in extensions to the floor joists. Unfortunately, the lateral supports were already screwed in, so I had to unscrew and reset the supports.

Another source of frustration was a particularly difficult corner of a closet. One lateral support was in an odd position, requiring my friends to re-cut it several times. Once all the supports were in place, we had difficulty getting the subfloor into place, and we had to re-cut it a number of times as well. Overall, I felt as though replacing the floor in the corner of that closet took a lot more time than it should have taken.

Working on the floors reminded me of my own life. Prior to attending Salkehatchie this year, I had reflected on my life and realized that many parts of my life were failures the first time around. I had a bad attitude during high school, and I did not make the most of my time there. I had two car accidents the first year I had my driver's license. My first job as a computer programmer was in an industry I had no business being involved in. I have broken relationships with certain women because of foolish behavior and negative attitudes.

What is good about the work site is that there is a lot of room for forgiveness. Boards can be re-cut; screws can be unscrewed; and walls can be repainted. Likewise, there is a lot of room for forgiveness in life because of God's grace. Our God is a God of second chances. With God's grace, broken hearts, broken relationships, and broken lives can be made new, and past mistakes can be forgiven and forgotten.

God has given me a lot of second chances. After high school, I decided to make more of my time in college. I learned from the mistakes that caused my car accidents and have become a safer driver for it. I lost the job I hated, and I took more of an initiative to find a job I could take pride in. I have still not been able to find a girlfriend, but I am learning how not to act around women, and I have even been able to keep a friendship in the midst of rejection.

As we continue to build our lives, let us be thankful that we have a gracious and forgiving Architect who, time and time again, allows us to learn from our mistakes and gives us the opportunity to undo our failures as we re-cut, repaint, and unscrew those parts of our lives that did not work out right the first time.


For more information about Salkehatchie Summer Service, check out the ministry's website at http://www.salkehatchie.org.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.