The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the National Street Rod Association and/or StreetScene Magazine.
Better Together
Scripture:
2 Chronicles 28:1
Steve Tiebout stevetiebout@gmail.com
I nheriting my dad’s ‘32 Chevy Vickie he built in the early ‘70s has been a joy. But with the age- ing of the car comes deterioration and by the time I got it there were a few things that needed to be done and then of course some things that I wanted to change to update it and improve on it. I haven’t met very many street rodders that inher- ited or bought a car that didn’t change some- thing about it to more align with their personal preferences. Our faith should be the same. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For everyone has sinned.” We all fall short of God’s glorious standard. That means our parents may have not got it completely right when it comes to faith. In no way do I want to dis- parage anyone’s parents or their faith, but the fact is that with each generation we should be learn- ing from our parents and growing closer to God in our faith building on our parents’ strengths and learning from their mistakes. Hezekiah was a king in the Bible who wasn’t given a good spiritual foundation by his father. King Ahaz was Hezekiah’s father, and the Bible writes about Ahaz in 2 Chronicles 28:1. “Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 16 years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestor David had done.”Although Ahaz had been given a good example of following God by his ancestor King David, he chose his own path and rejected the path of God and led his whole nation to worship idols instead. Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son, was 25 years old when he became king and he had a choice before him to either follow the path of God or follow the path of his father. The good news is that Hezekiah chose a different spiritual path from his dad, he chose instead to honor God and lead the people of Israel back to honoring God as well. The Bible says about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29:1-2: “Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem 29 years. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s
sight, just as his ancestor David had done.” Hezekiah decided as an adult to take a different path than his father and chose to live a spiritual legacy of faith, love and Godliness instead of one of power, selfishness and pride like his father. Let’s look at one thing that Hezekiah did that made a difference. In 2 Chronicles 29:3-7 we see the first step Hezekiah took to move himself and his nation back to following God. In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and summoned priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard where he told them to purify them- selves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. The first thing Hezekiah did differently from his father was to restore the worship of God at the Temple for all the people. The doors of the temple had been closed to the people for some time thus not allowing them to worship together as a commu- nity. For this reason as well as others the people had fallen away from worshiping God and begun to worship idols. For anyone wanting to start afresh with God, I recommend finding a great place to worship with others as a great first step. God did not intend for us to do anything alone, not street rodding, not family, and not our faith. He created us to enjoy community with God and with others. When we try to work out our faith by ourselves, we miss out on the beauty of what God designed for us as His children. He created us to be His family that wor- ships, serves, and grows together. Having a sup- portive Christian community to practice and refresh your faith will impact you and your next generation. Today you can go online and watch most church services in your community and get a feel for a church before you ever walk in the door. You can read on their website about their beliefs and what they are all about. So accept this challenge and find a local church and if you need any help finding one, e-mail me at stevetiebout@gmail.com.
98 AUGUST 2025
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