This was day two. Day one we stripped the vinyl coverings off of the floor and discovered more rot closer to the back of the bus. The bus was originally a passenger coach, so the vinyl was the old flooring and was stuck to the base wood with 17-year-old adhesive. But, taking the vinyl off was not as easy as just 1-2-3. It started like this:
We had to grab the edges of the vinyl covers with vise-grip pliers to get a good grip on them, then we would angle one way and tug, then the other and tug harder. This went on for a while. Then, after much pulling, tugging, and general hand-hurting, the floor looked like this:
After a bit more pulling and tugging, a lot of aches and many sore muscles, it started to look like this:
It wasn't long after that and we had cleared the third one as well, and the floor looked like this:
So, maybe it was as easy as 1-2-3. But it wasn't easy. Notice the heavy rot damage on the right planks, that was where the real work began. Now, these planks are surface, but there is a second level of plank beneath them that had to be removed as well. We went to work and after several hours the floor took on an entirely different look.
As you can see, these planks we are tearing up are, at times, resting on the naked frame of the bus. We couldn't just leave it like that, so we cleaned off the space and threw down some board to cover the holes.
The point of all of this is that we couldn't just throw down new flooring on top of the old; it would be unstable and unsafe. We had to get rid of the old and worthless wood and replace it with new before we could live in the bus or even continue our work.
The message to our madness is that we are taking an old bus, an old bus in good condition, but that has suffered in some ways from the world. The rot, the window leak, the ECM... This bus isn't perfect, but we're taking it as it is, knowing we can make it into something beautiful. We want to live in this bus, and we want a good home. We're not doing any of this by half measures.
God does the same with humans. He takes us as we are, seeing the potential within us, and he removes the old and useless trash in our lives, building Himself a suitable home in which to live. God's spirit resides in us and changes us daily. This bus is already teaching me lessons.
Is your life structurally sound, is it scripturally sound? Are there things that need to be torn up and thrown away, replaced by new things? God wants to change you, He's ready.