junk -> treasure

Ever heard the line "one man's junk is another man's treasure?"

I've seen this clearly the last couple of days as I have had the opportunity to help out with some renovations for our new salon. Laci and I have spent the last couple of days scouring through the local thrift stores and flea market along with hitting up the good old Hobby Lobby for the sales...and we were able to find some great junk...oops, I mean deals! We like to be thrifty and crafty and let's just say we have seen some junk turned into "treasures"...yes they are just temporal treasures but we are excited for this new journey and mission field God has given us and we just can't wait to make it our "new home."

As we were eye-balling things to decorate our new place with I said to her...don't look at this {the ugly frame or the weird looking mirror} for what it is now...you gotta look at it for what it CAN BE. Isn't that what God does when He looks at our humanity...so grateful for His eyesight. {now that's a message right there...} Last night we hauled all our loot to her husband's paint booth and lets just say we saw the "junk" transformed before our very eyes! Her husband {the expert} got his paint gun out and pretty soon {I'm talking really quickly} our junk turned into beautiful white pieces that looked brand new. All I could think about was how that's what God did when He sent Christ down to be our Savior...He made a way for our "junky lives" to be turned into beautiful masterpieces. The transformation that was taking place before our eyes in the paint booth is the same transformation that takes place when one decides to receive the gift God offers in His Son and chooses to follow HIM. Beautiful Transformation!

Today as I was scrubbing out the old refrigerator we will use I was reminded again of what Christ sacrifice on the cross did for me...you see, this fridge had seen better days...it was pretty dirty on the inside and out. As I worked with my rag, brush and bottle of bleach cleaner I saw the same transformation take place...what once looked like junk {I was even told by one of the workers there "good luck getting that cleaned...you'll never get it cleaned up!"} turned into a fridge that looked brand new. I love the analogy here too...how many people do we pre-judge and say..."good luck with that soul...there's no hope for them" and yet God get a hold of their lives and you see a complete transformation. A life that once looked hopeless is now brand spankin' new!

let's just say...we had a little church today! lessons learned.