Story and Photos by Bill Price
Transitioning through differing stages of life is hard as we journey along drinking from well to well we sometimes lose the clarity to remember that what we do conforms to a plan that is not our own. How we do it is a choice we are given and that the entire journey is in a grace given with nothing asked in return. A friend I have come by during the process of building this Hot Rod reminded me the other day to give credit to the "Master Builder." The Master Builder's unseen hand guides me my entire life and the route of this narrow path is no exception. The Master Builder's guidance has crossed my path with truly wonderful people and created friendships I treasure and count on every day of my life. The gentle but firm hand on my shoulder has brought me closer to God, the true Master Builder.
This journey began as I closed my eyes one hot July afternoon saying "thy will be done" as the l looming front end of a moving van I was meeting in a head on collision. I was driving a car that I had invested 10 years and a good deal of my own self-image. I had let that project become me. It had been my way of insulating myself from the world that was becoming more and more difficult as I aged. That time of my life and that project had come to define me as I pushed relentlessly to invest time and money into it. The time and money invested stemmed from probably the only reasonable decision I made, that the money and time would be from the hours of idleness spent in a world that somehow had no use or time for me anyhow.
Transitioning through differing stages of life is hard as we journey along drinking from well to well we sometimes lose the clarity to remember that what we do conforms to a plan that is not our own. How we do it is a choice we are given and that the entire journey is in a grace given with nothing asked in return. A friend I have come by during the process of building this Hot Rod reminded me the other day to give credit to the "Master Builder." The Master Builder's unseen hand guides me my entire life and the route of this narrow path is no exception. The Master Builder's guidance has crossed my path with truly wonderful people and created friendships I treasure and count on every day of my life. The gentle but firm hand on my shoulder has brought me closer to God, the true Master Builder.
This journey began as I closed my eyes one hot July afternoon saying "thy will be done" as the l looming front end of a moving van I was meeting in a head on collision. I was driving a car that I had invested 10 years and a good deal of my own self-image. I had let that project become me. It had been my way of insulating myself from the world that was becoming more and more difficult as I aged. That time of my life and that project had come to define me as I pushed relentlessly to invest time and money into it. The time and money invested stemmed from probably the only reasonable decision I made, that the money and time would be from the hours of idleness spent in a world that somehow had no use or time for me anyhow.
Somehow, I came back to consciousness after the crash and found God had set me on this path. The discovery was not an epiphany; it didn’t come in a flash or with heralded trumpets. It came out of a journey that began down a narrower path and through which growth in faith was a critical process. Right up front as I gathered the resources to rebuild and salvage from the wreck things that would let me respin the cocoon, I watched my wife through her faith contribute to our church from her parent’s estate. She inspired me to open up funds to the Solid Rock Ministry and to expand my giving to our church. In the search or quest for some meaning I found another project that I could focus on. My wife encouraged me. I met a man in Illinois that had a dream I shared. He had suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed so he could not continue with this dream of his. He and his wife seemed genuinely happy about my enthusiasm and I have endeavored to keep him informed of the project as he turned it over to me to complete.
This was a time I was pretty well out of gas on a personal and professional level. The old taunts were still at work and I was headed down the same path as before, alone. One day a colleague and I had a talk about not letting work define us. I realized that there was a lot of truth in not only work but every aspect of the way we live our lives that could keep us from realizing the true reward and in that quest realize a joy that was not to be found among stuff. Another friend had pointed out that we dig wells in our lives and that others that follow us would drink from those wells.
I worked hard on the wells I was digging and the path to complete this car project has been the most influenced. It has taken much longer than expected to complete it but along the way the friends I have made and their masterful assistance has become the more important part of the journey. Dozens have helped me doing work I could never accomplish on my own. In each of those people I have found a reinforcement of my faith and a better understanding of what God has set for me as a narrow path to follow. In the final stages of the project, sitting in the shop with true masters of the craft of auto restoration, I found a copy of Sherry Long’s book among the papers, instruction sheets, nuts and bolts on the desk. When I saw that book, I realized who the master builder was, and what he was building. I pray every day for those who have come into my life and for the opportunity to see this with clarity.
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