Jon Sharpe

I have restored furniture for 35 years. A mechanic next door brought me a box of rocking chair parts, asking if I could repair it for his wife. I took the challenge, although it was apparent it had been viciously broken apart.  He picked it up on Christmas eve, and I asked to hear the story behind it. Three weeks later he told me he had put it next to the Christmas tree, but his wife ignored it, saying: "No one could put that rocker together. I don't know where you got it, but it's not mine."  He left it in the room, and saw her come downstairs this morning, walk around the chair 3 times, and sit in it.  He came to the kitchen doorway, and she said: "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me!"  Her story was that after she abruptly left an abusive first husband, he called to ask if she wanted anything from their apartment. She said she would like the rocker.  It was the first piece of furniture she had ever purchased, from a nearby antique dealer.  Her ex broke it into pieces and sent it to her in a small box.  It took her awhile to accept the restoration, not unlike many of us who can't accept Christ's offered restoration right away. Her husband had no idea he was putting her life back together so significantly.