by Associate Pastor Todd Holdridge

Many of you know that I enjoy building furniture. For the last five years or so, I’ve been fascinated by hand tools. Now, don’t get me wrong. I regularly use power drills, saws, etc. But I love the “old world feel” and precision that can be accomplished with a sharp chisel, a hand plane, a hand saw, and a good bench.

You will understand my excitement, then, when I received a phone call from a friend to look through some old tools he was preparing to discard. Many items were intriguing— a pair of very tired-looking, dirty, rust covered hand planes, old files, rasps (think “cheese-grater” for wood) and chisels. The cliché is true with the above, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to.”

The chisels, files, and rasps were in good condition. With a few minutes of tuning, they’ll be ready for action. Good steel, little tarnish, clean edges, comfortable handles… The planes were another matter. Decades of rust was covered in a blanket of dirt & grime. A good bath and several applications of rust remover were required. Abrasives ground off layers of corrosion, and to my surprise, a recognizable logo began to emerge on the top of the blade—the unmistakable “SW” of a Stanley “Sweetheart” plane.

For those other than the 2-3 of you who have ever heard of a “Sweetheart” plane… this logo was applied to a unique line of professional quality tools during the heyday of the company. Even today, these are among the finest quality hand planes available, and small-production toolmakers still base their contemporary products on these designs.

I hope this doesn’t sound too corny, but in-between coats of rust remover, sanding, filing, I couldn’t help but see something of the Gospel in this afternoon exercise. Let’s be honest. Most of us are not as impressive as we’d wish. Maybe life has thrown curveballs at us. Maybe we’ve been let down by people who were important to us. And surely we’ve made foolish decisions along the way. For some of us, our passion has been dulled. Our lives have been covered by a haze of tarnish. The good news is that Jesus is able to see beyond our surface, and recognizes our incredible value and worth. He knows just what is needed to restore us, and is willing to get his hands dirty. But it might not be quick & easy.

Prior to our arriving at Bethany, our family went through a few years of “rebuilding.” With two small children (one with special needs that interrupted sleep every night), a schedule chock full of night meetings and weekend travel, financial strain, and growing vocational restlessness, I was forced to confront my brokenness... I remembered mistakes I had made, people I’d disappointed. In the mysterious ways only God seems able to utilize, he used these difficult experiences to remove all sorts of rust and corrosion from my life.

I am a different person now, and a different pastor. I believe (and my wife will correct me if necessary) I am more patient, less irritable, more attentive at home, more confident in the goodness of God. God has been at work, cleaning, tuning, revealing more of who he’s intended me to be. And at the end of the day, I trust I am more useful for the work to which I’ve been called.

Of course I will still need frequent cleaning and sharpening, but as the Apostle Paul says, “In Christ you are a new creation.” I believe it.