Breaking her down

So I've started.  I took out the interior, or what was left of it.  From there I got a good look at the massive holes in the floor.  I was going to attempt to patch the floor, but now I know that that we take too much time and cost just as much as buying a new floor pan.

Apart from being terrified form the floor boards, it seems that there are several surprises under the paint.  I started sanding off the paint and have found a few areas that rusted through and were patched with Bondo. (which is a no-no)  I found a few dents on the door, but nothing too major there, and I found that you shouldn't use the actual sand disk for a grinder as it will rub away the metal itself.  But that is nothing a little filler can't take care of before I paint.  What I am left with right now is a front fender and driver's side door that is stripped of its paint and looking shiny and new.  I also have a huge cloud of pink dust (which comes from the cream and red paint) in the garage and about an inch of it on the floor and covering the car.

Working to save this car makes me think about how we attempt to "save" people.  We usually tell them about Jesus and Hell hoping that they will break down and want to choose Jesus over Hell.  Then we get them baptized and be done with them.  Being "saved" is much more difficult than that though.  Jesus talked about carrying your cross and dying to yourself in order to follow him.  I don't think getting wet was what he had in mind.  I also don't think he meant for us to take membership in the Kingdom of Heaven so lightly as we have over the past 2k years.  Like this car, people need work done to them.  We may not be the ones stripping them, but we should help guide them along with the Father to be stripped clean of the facades that they have been putting on since birth.  Underneath you may find holes or rust or maybe some cheap filler, but in order to put on a clean coat, you must strip them down and patch them up.  So what does this entail for us on a day-to-day basis.  Maybe we don't rush salvation, but wrestle with it ourselves and help others wrestle with it as well.  Maybe we realize that it isn't a quick fix or cheap, but takes us giving up ourselves and realizing that believing in Jesus won't get sin out of our lives immediately.  Instead, we must be sanded down so that we, like Jesus, might fulfill the Law so that the world might see who God is and what can happen in the Kingdom of Heaven.