BeeHive Bird Feeder

Recently Cindie brought home a birdfeeder from BeeHive Homes of Oregon. BeeHive is the wonderful caring place that Cindie’s mom spent her final days on earth. The facility is very nice and the people of BeeHive are like solid gold. We are so thankful for their work and ministry of love and caring. When I saw the feeder, it was obvious that it was no longer useful, but I saw potential and thought I should attempt to fix it. I took it apart and used my Dremel and some plexiglass from my workshop to replace what was broken. As I was doing this, my mind was taken back in time to the things I watched my father fix. Things that were broken beyond all usefulness.

BeeHive Homes of Oregon – Bird Feeder

Clyde William Lynn Winquist

Clyde William Lynn Winquist as a young man. He was a mechanical engineer.

If you read Proverbs27Flocks, you have seen me sing the praises of my mother. Mom was a special lady. Her life, love, goals, attitudes, perspectives, wisdom, and words made a big difference in my life. Mom wasn’t perfect, but she was as close to perfect as a sinful mother can get. Of course, that is due primarily to the work of the Holy Spirit in her life and her deep appreciation for and application of God’s truth in her life.

My readers could conclude that I did not have the same views about my father. That would be misguided. Dad was an example of hard work, service, concern for other’s physical and spiritual needs, wisdom, careful planning, and an ability to take what was broken and fix it.

A Broken Spatula

Early in our married life, when our spatula broke because the rivets failed, Dad fixed it. You can see that this spatula, after 44 years is still useful.

The spatula dad fixed still works after 44 years!
You can see the rivets are still in great shape. Quality workmanship.

When You Put Sand in Your Gas Tank

If a tire was flat, dad did the repair. He even took a BMW Isetta, wonderful small car that had been “refueled” by a friend’s son (with sand in the gas tank) and gave the car new life. Dad cleaned out the gas tank, the fuel line, and the engine. The car was dead, and Dad brought it back to life. Dad was a mechanic, mechanical engineer, carpenter, electrician, plumber, inventor, craftsman, and all-around handyman. The list is endless. He even built his own bandsaw.

BMW Isetta picture taken in June 1963

A Word About the BMW Isetta

The BMW Isetta was a microcar produced under license by the Bayerische Motorenwerke between 1955 and 1962. It was based on a design from the Italian manufacturer Iso Rivolta and is known as a bubble car. Isettas typically had a door in the front and a single cylinder four-stroke engine in the back. Mom, Russell, Claude, and I all rode in this car. It is a wonder we all fit!

What God the Father has done and is doing…

I realize there are people in this world who have never known a good father. That is a tragedy. But it doesn’t have to remain that way. Earthly fathers can be changed and have been changed by God. But even if that never happens, God is an exceedingly generous Father who knows how to give good gifts to his children. He knows how to fix, restore, mend, repurpose and satisfy with his immeasurable power, riches, love, and skillful hands. “For we are his workmanship” is the way Paul puts it in Ephesians. Let that sink in. You can be God’s workmanship. And what he fixes, he maintains. What he maintains he uses for his glory and for our good. Amazing!

This isn’t just my own wishful thinking. Read the following good news about God the Father and what he is willing to fix and to give:

He mercifully and lovingly makes us alive. Our lives were tragically broken, corrupt and dead, but God… “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)

His Son: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” 1 John 4:14 (ESV)

“Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.’” John 6:32 (ESV)

His Holy Spirit: “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:9-13 (ESV)

His Love and His Eternal Comfort and He comforts our hearts today: “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (ESV)