Made New

Once, there was a time when I was really into motorcycles. I mean REALLY into motorcycles. You might even say that I was a bit eccentric. I couldn’t stop with just one, I had to have more. If I recall correctly, at one point there were at least 5 of them in our garage. Nice Harley Davidson motorcycles, some limited editions, some rarely used. I would jokingly say that one was for work, the others for pleasure. Over my lifetime I have probably owned around 20 bikes. That’s about one new bike every two years of my adult life. I think you probably get the picture by now: “My name is Jon and I have a motorcycle problem…”

With motorcycles come motorcycle accessories and boy did I sure have a problem with that as well. Clothing, intercom systems, unique helmets, chrome upgrades, t-shirts from every place you have ever visited on a bike, and a trailer. A trailer you might ask. Yep, I had one of those too. Not to put my bikes into or onto, but rather one to put onto the special hitch that was made for my bike, so that I could pull it and store extra gear when I was traveling.

The trailer set us apart when we were riding. While some serious bikers had them, they were all a little unique and when you observed one rolling down the highway, you almost always would take a second look because the trailer spoke volumes about the rider. Call me nuts, but I have always believed that bikes for the most part are about the same. You would have the ones that you liked the most, but somewhere somebody probably had one just like yours or very similar. Different colors, yes. However, colors don’t make things too different. A trailer on the other hand, well, I’ve seen everything from spaceship designs to what could only be described as a miniature towed hearse. You could really reveal your personality with a trailer on the back when speeding across the county.

My story with a trailer, began with answering an advertisement while I was in the Middle East with the Army. I found one that was relatively inexpensive, and it was just across the state line, in Kentucky. Around 15 minutes from our home. But there was a problem: I was in Iraq. I did what any man would do when they have a good wife who had bought into the vision of being a motorcycle fanatic, I emailed my wife and in the sweetest way asked, “Can you go and look at this trailer?” Of course, she did and that very night while I was in Iraq, I became the proud owner of a 20+ year old motorcycle trailer.

It was 20+ years old and it showed, so when I returned home, I took it straight to an auto-body repair-shop. I had asked around and was told that they were the best in the area, and that was exactly the type of place that I wanted to work on my trailer. The best. I’ll never forget unloading it at the shop and telling the man, “Repair costs are not a concern, and neither is the time that it will take” to which he just nodded. He asked what all I wanted done. I thought it would be simple if I was direct, so I was when I replied, “Make it like new.” I was not expecting to hear what came next. He shrugged and said, “I’m not the guy to work on this.” I was shocked and inquired as to why? He said, “This trailer is over twenty years old. It will never be like new again. I can do my best with it, but no matter what I do you will never be satisfied. I repaint and rebuild, but I can never make it like new even if I do my best work with it.” To say that I was disappointed is an understatement. Who was this guy to tell me that he wouldn’t work on my trailer, after I offered whatever it would take to fix it up and told him to take his time doing so? My shock turned to a touch of anger. I believe he noticed it and he said this, “However, if you want me to repair the flaws, and repaint he trailer and have it looking good for you, I am the man for the job. But know, that if you are wanting it to be new, you will need to go somewhere else. I just cannot make an old trailer new.”

I got the message, I let him repair the trailer, and when I picked it up several weeks later, I realized that he was right with everything that he had said. I learned to love my custom, painted-to-match-my-bike trailer, and I learned to accept the fact that it would never again be like it was over twenty years ago. It served me well and crossed the country a time or two, and eventually I sold it to someone else that probably had the same crazy ideas that I once held.

Sometimes in life, we feel that we are beyond the point of ever being made whole. There are plenty of voices that scream at us those exact words, you are damaged, you are old, you are broken, you are of little value. We have all heard the words, “If I ever came into the church the roof would fall in on me.” What they are saying is that they are so broken and injured that God would never in a million years allow such a disgrace as them to step foot into His house. Like that repairman said, “It could never be made like new” again, they feel that what they are is how they will forever be. His words stung me, but the wrong notion of God ever speaking those words to us are crippling. If we can never be made like new, what is the need to even try? Eat, drink, and be merry… and then when it’s over we die. Broken, used, and useless.

God doesn’t want us to be repaired or made to be like new, He loves us too much for that. But Jon, are you saying that we are to remain in a decrepit and worn-out condition? Absolutely not! This may be a surprise to you, but the repairman was right in many ways. God doesn’t want us to be repaired or made to be like new, He loves us too much for that. But Jon, are you saying that we are to remain in that broken and worn-out condition? Absolutely not! He loves us too much to just patch us up. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Did you catch that, not patched up with duct tape, cobbled together with wire and glue, not made to just look good, but rather he said that we can be made new!

Friend isn’t it time to accept the fact that the Master wants to do a work in our lives that is complete and thorough. A work that will completely transform us. I am learning that when I trust Him to bring about change, I have to trust that the change that He wants to bring will be complete. Let’s take the offer. We can all be custom made, uniquely designed, individually styled masterpieces that are one of a kind.

You can be a limited, numbered edition (insert name here) child of the King!