Dumpster Diving; I Am My Father's Daughter

I will now proceed to tell tales of my younger days... please excuse the stupidity.

We were experts. The craft: dumpster diving. 
We knew all the sweet spots; where we can find this and that; the good and the not-so-good. When the clock hit 11 or 12 we would head out- the less amount of people who saw, the less awkward (also because it is illegal in California). It seriously is incredible what people will throw out! Don't worry, I am not a hoarder. One time, I found multiple untouched boxes of biscuit mix. After testing them out (they were great!) me and some friends baked them and gave them out to our homeless friends who happily chowed them. Another time, I found a bag of the best tangerines I've had- to this day- and a box of dog treats for my pups! Okay, the tangerines were laying next to the dumpster in a box, but still! I have also found this big rolling energy drink cooler that my friend now uses for parties and get togethers. Oh! And my favorite was when we found this huge 5' 5" tractor tire and decided to push it up a flight of stairs and let go... it took on incredible speed and with a couple leaping bounds smashed into a few rows of baking trays. We did not intend to bowl, but if we were keeping score, it was one of the coolest and scariest "strikes" I have seen. I don't remember the first time I got the idea to try my luck in this trade, but I know that I got the mentality from my dad.   

My dad is one of the most creatively useful people I know. He owns just about every tool imaginable and is a "saver" (nice word because my parents read my blog-love you dad!); the perfect combination for creatio ex nihilo- a latin theological term meaning "creation out of nothing." For example, one Christmas Eve he erected this long pole he made out of pieces of PVC pipe with an old sprinkler head fixed to the top and a hose attached to the bottom. He left it on over night and in the morning we had a beautiful "white Christmas" in our back yard with a tree full of huge icicles. That gift was close competition with the material presents under the Christmas tree. Come summer, the contraption would serve as one heck of a mister on a hot summer day as well. He is a painter by trade, and so he would save all of the extra paint from his jobs. Our roof had a lot of leaks and so every winter we would try to re-patch the roof with the old paint to try and fight off some of the rain. -What a sight our roof must have been from the air! Or one time, he built us a little fort next to the wood pile out of an old garage door, bean bag game(he used the little whole for a window), and used carpet. He's crafty like that. And of course, I am my father's daughter… so naturally, I make furniture for my house out of scrap wood, free paint, and bricks I found, or a coffee table out of old tires. Point being, cool thing come out of a dumpster. 

As I was hit by nostalgia the other night, accidentally day dreaming through prayer, Jesus reeled me back in by 'saying', "Yeah, that's what I do." So true! We start off generally clean in life, and somewhere along the way we decide to jump in the dumpster and we sift through the trash and sin and darkness looking for something, -really anything worth grabbing on to. Then, Jesus comes along and puts out His hand. And once we are smart enough to take His help, He pulls us out. He finds that "gem" in all the mess. Through our brokenness we become aware of how in need of a Redeemer, a Creator, a Re-Creator we are. The rad thing is that God only makes beauty. He also never wastes a hurt or bad decision. He's crafty like that. So what happens to us? We become useful. We become beauty. 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17