Thoughts from the Rectory
for March 2026
Dear Friends
Apparently, during the winter months you should follow five top tips for keeping your car clean.
1) Be aware of salt corrosion that can take hold due to the grit that is spread on the roads. Salt combined with water causes oxidation which becomes corrosive and results in rust. The best way to prevent this problem is by washing your car more regularly.
2) Don’t wash your car when it’s wet. Washing a dry car apparently helps the cleaner you are using to grab hold of the dirt, but it can’t do this as well if the car is wet. The best way to do this is by washing the car more regularly (assuming ofcourse there’s enough time for it to dry out first!).
3) Don’t wash the car when it’s very cold. A warm car helps cleaning agents to loosen and grab the dirt and again the best way to do this is by washing the car more regularly, preferably in the middle of the day when it’s warmest.
4) Make sure that the water and products you use to clean your car are free from dirt particles and contaminants. Winter makes everything dirtier and grittier and so it’s essential that you don’t end up scratching paint work because you’ve not loosened the grime first and have been careful not to contaminate your water. Snow foam is apparently the best way to get rid of this problem and of course, the more regularly you do it easier it is to clean.
5) Wash your car more regularly (something featured in for four previous tips). Salt corrosion, the bad weather, grit and grime throughout the winter months all contribute to the need for greater care of your cars, chassis and bodywork.
I must confess, however, that I don’t follow any of these tips. Our cars are filthy, grimy and gritty. When it’s dark and cold and the weather awful, you don’t really want to get out there and look after them, and to be honest, you hardly notice, but as spring emerges and brighter days occur, you see the state of them and you have to act (one car wash a year is enough…surely?).
As people who do our best (most of the time) and who live busy and complicated lives, we too collect all kinds of bumps and scrapes, dirt and grime. Some things just make life a bit more complicated or untidy, while other things can be really corrosive and eat away at what really matters. Although God doesn’t offer car washes, he does offer the opportunity for the grit and the grime of life to be cleaned and the corrosion dealt with, not once a year, but every day and at anytime.
When a car is freshly cleaned, inside and out, it feels good, somehow it drives better, looks newer and perhaps isn’t the wreck that we sometimes picture it as. If you feel that you’ve picked up some knocks, dirt, grime corrosion in life and that you would like to deal with it, don’t let it cling to you any longer, but to Jesus, who is ready to forgive and restore you this spring.
Godspeed,
Jonathan
