The garage

I've never seen a poll about it, but I would have to wonder what the results would be of a poll such as this:  "Do you use your garage as a store room for stuff, or do you actually park your car(s) in it?  And, if you park your cars in it, is it a tight squeeze because of accumulated stuff?"

We went for years and years without a garage.  In the north with north type weather.  You know, ice and snow.  Yuk.  So when we built the garage, it was a well planned project:

• it had to be heated so I could work out there in winter
• it had to be oversized as much as codes would allow
• it had to have a "man cave"  a room large enough to allow a group of guys to meet (and indeed it is..complete with fridge, cooking plate, cabinets foe supplies, plenty of room, and a urinal in a private corner).  And carpeted, and a large picture window.  A man cave for sure.
• plenty of easy access overhead storage space for stuff, so there is a walking attic.
• and there was one rule...the two cars would be parked INSIDE.

Over time, you can guess what happened.  Yes, the cars were still parked inside each night.....but every square inch if other space (including the man cave) ultimately became a depository for stuff.  Until recently it became a storage bin with room for two cars.  Bad.

So I spent the last three days taking it back to its roots...a usable garage with a room where my small group could proudly meet should they want to.  Out went a lot of stuff (you know the kind....I might use that someday).  Up went a bunch of cabinets I had the good fortune of picking up off a renovation job, and now the usable stuff is all in a logical place, and in order.

As I spent time on the project I kept going back to the fact that my life (my head and heart) is a lot like the garage.  I need to keep my head and heart free of useless clutter so that I can focus on what is important to my spiritual growth.  And, just like the garage, it is really quite easy to clutter it up with useless junk.  Thank goodness, through prayer, scripture, church, community (men's group), and close relationships with other Christian men it has become much easier to keep my life garage clean and usable than the garage for our cars.  Oh, the clutter in my life garage?  It's called sin and it accumulates just as easily (if not more so) than the clutter and junk in my car garage.

How's your garage....both of them?