Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FINISH (05/26/16)
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TITLE: Trash to Treasure | Previous Challenge Entry
By Pat Small
05/31/16 -
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I point the truck towards my friend Vicky’s house. “Hi. Ready to roll?”
Vicky jumps in, hands full, her fanny pack bouncing with the move. “I brought coffee fixed just the way we both like it, and some Krispy Kremes. I knew you wouldn’t stop for food once we got on the road.”
“Sounds great. I’m ready for one of those donuts already,” I grin as I swing onto Highway 52. “I sure hope our luck is as good as it was last year. Anything in particular you hope to find? I know you’d like something for the newlyweds to be.”
“I’d love to unearth a great piece I can refinish for the house they’re building. There are lots of options. A hall table, a mantle for the fireplace, or maybe something else I haven’t even imagined. What about you? If I know you, your thoughts are running wild.”
“I’m open. I’ll know it when I see it. Mom loved that bowl I got her last year. Remember how hideous it was? I think even you doubted me on that one. But once I stripped those hideous geometric designs, and sanded until I thought my arm would fall off, you started to believe.”
“I know. Turned out the wood was beautiful, and after you brushed on that black walnut stain and polyurethaned it, I bet you could have easily sold it for at least $100 bucks.”
“Yep. You know what they say. One man’s trash,”
“Another man’s treasure,” she finished the sentence for me.
“There are so many ways I could have gone with that too, you know. Mahogany, or cherry, or…”
“I know.” She interrupted me in her enthusiasm. “And isn’t that what God does with us? He sees past the sin and messes, and envisions what we can become. He does not design us alike; just as the original owners of that bowl loved their geometric designs, and you loved it plain and simple, He delights in variety. When we are saved, He makes us a new creation, but He still maintains our individuality. Remember years ago that slogan ‘Be Patient. God isn’t finished with me yet’?”
“Right. I just thought of a verse, I think it’s in II Corinthians. ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’. (II Cor. 5:17 KJV) We’re still the same person, but the ugly stuff is gone. Our puny efforts can’t come close to that.”
“Yes, but back to the bowl. After you cleaned it up and put a new finish on it, it was, for all practical purposes, a new piece even though essentially it was the same article.” She burst into that Gaither song ‘Something Beautiful’.” I joined in as the truck ate up the miles.
“Wow, I didn’t realize I was riding with a theologian.”
“Ha! Ha! I noticed there’s a pottery class at Forsyth Tech this fall. I think it would be fascinating to make something with our hands, and then paint lovely designs and colors, and give it a shiny finish with whatever they use; I don’t know if it’s shellac or varnish. Something like that.”
“I’m in. What night is it scheduled? If it’s during Monday night football, Roger will be thrilled to have me go.”
“I’ll check. Ready for another donut and some coffee?”
“I am. I’m so glad you thought to bring some sustenance. You know me, with my one track mind. All I could think of was getting there.”
“I know. That’s why we make such a good team. It was a happy day for me when you moved into our neighborhood.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, there’s a yard sale ahead. Can we check it out?”
“Let’s. We might find a treasure before we even get to Hillsville.”
o
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