God's Repair Shop...
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I wonder if you’ve seen the BBC TV programme “The Repair Shop”[1]. It’s great TV. Make sure you catch up on Episode 21 of the latest series, still online if you just missed it[2].
A Cypriot
Shepherd’s Bag mauled by a dog, a broken sewing machine, a 6 foot cuddly toy
dog, an old clock. None of these things look very impressive at the start, but
as the experts start to work on them, restitching, restuffing, oiling, greasing,
pulling apart then putting the pieces back together you begin to hear the story
about what makes them so precious, and you see the joy on the faces as they are
fixed and made new and returned to their owner. It was a gem, and our whole
family loved it.
What was most
moving to me on this episode must have been the barometer-thermometer-clock
that Ken from County Durham brought in to be restored. It was no piece of junk,
it was awarded to his dad, Bob, for his bravery as one of the rescue party first
on the scene at the tragic Easington Colliery disaster in 1951 when 83 men[3] died and only one escaped.
It was a delight
to see Ken taking away with him the restored clock and thermometer and
barometer after the hard work that horologist Steve Fletcher put in, working
just as good as the day that his dad received it.
I think it’s a
wonderful picture of what Jesus Christ can do for us. He takes us, broken as we
are, he doesn’t treat us as old junk, but he lovingly rescues us and repairs
us.
As well as
taking new ownership of us when we put our trust in him, he lovingly repairs us
as time goes on, knocking the rough edges of our selfishness and pride off, fixing
the damage that broken relationships can do to us, and restoring our dignity
and humanity as he makes us more like Him.
It's a great picture. Do get in touch if we can help you to discover the main character of the Bible- King Jesus, and his great repair shop.
Thanks for listening.
picture from Wikipedia.