Missing Piece

As a little boy I loved playing with cars.  I loved it when I saved enough money, usually around 12 bucks, and I could buy a model car.  There were two types; ‘snap together’ and ‘glue together.’  I never got any good at the glue type because I was a messy kid.  I would open the glue and start putting pieces together and the glue got everywhere.  Wanting to keep the projects a tad bit cleaner, Mom always asked me to buy the ‘snap together’ models.  They were easier.

Usually on a Sunday afternoon I would tear open the box.  Ignoring the instructions, I started piecing the car together.  Start with the small parts of the car, like the engine, and then build out from there.  Essentially, the small pieces snapped into bigger pieces which connected to the frame of the car.  Once there, it always happened.  Inevitably, there was always a piece missing.  Somehow in the process, I lost a wheel, a bumper, a tire…and the whole project seemed wrecked.  On one car specific, I was missing the back tire.  My mom had this great idea and her solution was simple.  She told me to put the car on the shelf with my other completed projects, but place it in such a way that the missing back tire could not  easily be seen by the casual observer. 

It worked.  For the onlooker, usually Bobby from down the street, he never saw the missing tire.  It was hidden.   But for me, it just didn’t feel right presenting a three-wheeled car.  To me, as the designer, something was missing.  Sure, to Bobby, he couldn’t tell. Of course, I wouldn’t let any one touch the car or examine it to close.  That’s why they were up on the shelf.  Just out of reach. 

Out of sight our of mind, right?

Looking back, I see a lot more to the story.  I have found that in my life there were times when I made mistakes and missed the mark by a galaxy.  Not with a corvette, but with my character.  Ignoring the instructions, I did it my way.  At the end of the day, a part of me was undone, incomplete and broken.  I learned how to cope with it.  Sitting on life’s shelf, I learned how to make sure the missing attribute remained out of site.  Like the model car’s missing wheel, I kept my liabilities hidden from the casual onlooker.  I wanted, but lacked, wholeness.

Now I have kids.  The value of wholeness is priceless.  When you realize you are missing something, your soul will always quest for wholeness.  I never knew the value of wholeness until I was willing to acknowledge that I was incomplete.  I was missing key elements of character, integrity, even a consistent self-reflection that is ultimately defined as honesty.  The holes within me deepened as I got older.  Sure, there are things that I thought would fill them, but they were temporal.  And if a permanent solution wasn’t found soon, the brokenness, the wounds, the pain, would soon multiply into bitterness.  My incompleteness was really a place was a magnet to be wounded by others.  Thin skinned and shallow, I discovered this deficiency when I realized I was always being offended and hurt by someone.  At what point was I going to find the missing piece and get rolling down the road again?

Have you ever been there? 
Have you ever found yourself in a conversation telling someone about all the people you have a problem with?  Have you ever found yourself isolating because you just couldn’t find people that you got along with? 

Maybe the answer is not in them, but maybe, like me, you want them to fill the void that only God can fill.

I understand.  Look back over your life and find the area you are the most insecure.   Think of all the things you though could fix it.  The only real remedy is wholeness.  Sure the solution masquerades like a better marriage, a better spouse, more money, a better job, or a different church.  But in reality, it’s your soul longing for wholeness.  And God’s best is the answer.  He is everything.  He plus anything equals everything.  He is wholeness.

When asked why I am excited about this book project I have many answers. Yet the one that is most concise is that this book can bring wholeness.  Understanding Jesus Loves You This I Know is to understand wholeness.  Craig and I wrote to every fabric of culture.  You will find yourself in the pages.  Those you love are in the pages.  Pick up the chapters and read the list, only to see your neighbors, work associates, friends, and family.  The sum total is that Jesus loves that entire list and wants each of them to be made whole through His truths and plans.

Yea, I still like putting model cars together.  But now I read the instructions.

Much love.

Jason 

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