05/12/2026
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10)
Clad in coveralls and armed with my toolbox, I conducted an extensive inspection of a car I’d seen up for sale. Not just any car… my “dream ride,” the VW Karmann Ghia you all know as DEIRDRE. I scrounged around the entire machine: pulling up carpets, peeking behind panels, digging inside the trunk --even crabbing on my back to see the undercarriage. All the while, I prayed not to find anything that would nix the deal (extensive rust, sketchy repairs, or other structural “red flags”). Satisfied with what I’d seen –rather, NOT seen—I shook hands with and paid the young seller, then drove off with my prize. Five years later, I discovered a severe rust problem in an area I apparently overlooked during my “thorough” inspection. That day, I steered Deirdre onto the “road to recovery.”
Romans 3:10-12 declares that, by Adam’s disobedience against God, every soul born into this world is condemned with spiritual decay (“There is no one righteous, not even one…”), and we have no earthly means to clean ourselves up. That’s where Jesus’s death and miraculous resurrection come in… the cost of sin (our spiritual rust) is death, and everyone is destined to pay. But God offered to pick up the tab, allowing his only son to endure death and damnation in our stead. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Willing to go “all in” so we may enjoy a relationship with Him, Jesus only asks that you bring Him into your heart and hop onto YOUR “Road to Recovery.”
