The Reason Behind The Ring

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. - Romans 8:28-29

I love making things out of wood and I love making bentwood rings, but most of all I love the reason I make them. The story behind my rings is one of redemption and reconciliation, and my joy in making them is deeply connected to my faith and to the truth that God can take the deepest pains and make them into something of great beauty and purpose. The desire for making these beautiful little treasures was birthed from a not so beautiful place. It was in September of 2014 that my wife and I’s marriage suffered great pain and brokenness. Life is messy, and ours was no exception. We didn’t know what was going to happen, we didn’t know if this shattered state of our lives could ever be put back together again. We didn’t have the strength to make it, but thankfully that is when Christ showed up, and was more than strong enough for us. When God stepped in, with a miraculous touch of grace, he began taking what was broken and started putting it back together again. God opened our eyes to the truth that nothing in this world will ever satisfy us or make us whole. Only he can do that. He brought us to a point of seeing just how dead in our sin we were, and that we had no other hope but to grab hold of him, as if he was all we had. And that is what we did. We gave him everything. Ourselves, each other, and our marriage. It was there, in that moment of feeling like you are sinking into the black depths of the ocean, that God reached down and pulled us up. We ran to him, leaving everything we had behind and finally found the freedom he offers. We found what true life really is and that it is only found in him. It was in the months after our healing began and after my wife mentioned wanting a new wedding ring, that the question emerged. Could I make her a ring out of wood? With little to no research, I went out into the shop and found a dirty scrap piece of hardwood to try it on. I drilled a hole in it, and started cutting and sanding, and sanding, and sanding, and sanding, and sanding, until I had shaped it into my first wooden ring. As I worked on it for many nights, the process of cutting, sanding, and shaping this old piece of wood began to take on new meaning to me. Here I was taking a scrap meant for the burn pile and making it something purposeful. Something beautiful. It was there in that process that I started to see the same process God was working in my life, in my wife’s life, and our life together.

That original ring making process was not easy and it certainly was not quick. It was difficult and trying, but it was not meaningless. The same could be said for the pain and healing in our marriage. With care and purpose, just like a craftsman, God was working through a difficult time to make something beautiful, he was working to make us more like him. After that first ring, and all that it embodied for my wife and I, I felt I had found something worth investing more time in making. So I started researching wooden rings. I learned new techniques and refined them and changed my process into what it is now, making bentwood rings.

Each ring is a joy to make. I love what they mean to me, and I love what they can mean to others. The ones I make for my wife and I tell our story, and I hope the ones I make for others will tell theirs. It is my genuine hope that anyone who wears a ring I’ve made will be reminded that they were created to be something more than they could ever become on their own. As we fully surrender to God, he can and will make us what we were meant to be. He can take what is heading for the fire, and make it into a treasured reflection of himself. The process will be hard, maybe difficult to understand, and even painful at times, but making something that is beautiful is never a simple and easy process. However it is one that is worth it all. Do you have a story of God's work in your life? Has he brought you through something in the past, is he bringing you through something now? What has he worked for good in your life? If you have purchased one of my rings, I hope every time you look at it you are reminded of His work in your life. If all this sounds foreign to you, it's ok, it did to me too. It was not until I saw my need for God to free me from my sin that I realized how he was at work in my life. I'd encourage you to watch this short two minute video about what God has done for you. This message is what changed my life and started opening my eyes to God's work in me; His work to make me into something beautiful.