Look Mom, No Glass!
March 12, 2022
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens . . .”
To take on a car project is to work on one’s patience. This episode of the Green Machine Diaries highlights the big glass removal, but also a bigger lesson about time and what it takes to go from here to there.
Last time on the Green Machine Diaries
Last time on the Green Machine Diaries (“Never Underestimate a 10-Year-Old”), Jake and I pulled the tired old Ford 300. I carted it off to Charlie at C&A Auto Engine Rebuilders in Scott, Arkansas. As much as I wanted to tackle that project — not happening! As Harry Callahan famously quipped, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
Amen to that!
If I am going to finish this project before the grands grow up, that was one task I had to farm out. So on January 5, 2022 it was “Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, off to the engine builders we go.” Two months and twelve days later I picked up a fresh six-banger, now with a little more getty up thanks to Charlie’s modifications (and a few more dollars). Hot Rod anything, right?!
From here to there . . .
Hot rodding, like leadership, is all about getting from here to there. While the “THERE” in this Econoline story is about going from clunker to classy, there are many little “there’s” along that path. “There” in this case was pulling emblems, removing glass, and preparing the Green Machine for a thorough pressure wash on the underside and a thorough media blasting on the outside.
All projects move at the speed of life
Before I could get “there” (removing the glass) I had to GET THERE, that is back to Arkansas. Remember, I dropped off that engine on January 5, 2022. I picked it up on March 12. A lot happened in those two months and twelve days. After leaving Arkansas we were home for a month and then back on the road for family and work, making our way through Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina (with a flight to Texas thrown in) before returning to Pennsylvania. This little family video captures some of the real work of family and life at LBC between trips to Arkansas. I call it “7700 Miles of Life.”
Spring Break And “Pulling Teeth”
Spring Break arrived and I pulled an all-nighter driving from PA to our Arkansas getaway. As you can see from the end of the video, it was snowing, but snow is no match for a heated shop and two guys on a mission. Zachary was joining me for a day, and then Paul for a day-and-a-half. The Econoline was in no shape to welcome back its engine. There was still too much grime-n-gum to clean up. With Z’s help, we tackled “paint prep,” which meant removing emblems, pulling headlights, a little fixin’, and pulling ALL the glass, which was like pulling teeth!
Lessons Learned (or Re-Learned):
Act like an ant! — In his book, 9 Things You Simply Must Do To Succeed In Love And Life, Henry Cloud takes us to Proverbs 6:6-8, “Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.” Ants work one little piece of grain at a time. They don’t try to do it all, but they do what they do “little by little” with all their might. Cloud quotes Isak Dinesen, “When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will be finished” (see page 117). I am three years into this Green Machine project, working like an ant, looking toward that day when suddenly it will be finished.
Together is better — Despite the public roles God gives me, I am an introvert. I get my batteries re-charged through solitude. There are times for that, but this part of the journey would have been nowhere near as productive and NOWHERE near as fun without working with my son! We worked. We overcame. We laughed. We talked life. We had a great time. God’s payoff of joy and productive synergy is found in doing things “together.”
The project is not life! — I’m a task-oriented guy. Canvas my journals, look at my daily calendar, or step into my shop. Lists abound. I love checking boxes that tell me the “TO DO” is done. The satisfaction of work well done is part of the design of God (Genesis 1:31; Genesis 2:15; Proverbs 14:23, 22:29; Colossians 3:17, 23), it is an important part of life, but when work substitutes for people, we’ve missed out on life.
Patience is the name of the game — If I live with the understanding that “For everything there is a time and a season for every activity under heaven,” I can rest a little more patiently knowing that as seasons come and go, so will the time to work on this project.
So what’s next?
The rebuilt engine is still nestled on the trailer and the van still needs to be pressured cleaned down low and media blasted up high. Right now, it is looking like July before this ant takes that next step. For everything there is a time . . .
