Is It Time for You to Have Your Car's Emissions Checked?

One of the joys of living in Georgia and owning a car is the beloved annual emissions test. Just in case you aren't familiar with it, you take your car to a certified emissions inspector who connects your car to a machine, tests the gas gap, and then confirms to the state that your car isn't emitting more than it should. I used to drive by one such location every day on the way to work. It was cleverly called "Dad's Emissions." I see what they did there, but I have to wonder if most people would find it desirable to come closer to dad's emissions. I would have thought it would keep people away.

I'll confess there were a couple of times that I went to Dad's Emissions because it was convenient. I know I'm the only one that waits until the very last day to have his emissions checked (ew) so he can renew his car tag. But then I changed jobs, and I found a new place.

The new place is interesting because it's in the basement of a dentist's office. What's even more interesting than that is this place was originally a bank, and the basement in question was actually the drive-thru for the bank. If I hadn't already been using my dentist for a long time, I would definitely start using the one there, and I'd set up my appointments such that I needed my teeth cleaned at the same time I needed my emissions checked. Not by the same person, please.

It's kindof like this other place I saw where there was a gun shop right next door to a pool supply store. Most people need both of those items at the same time, right?

Anyway, it turns out most emissions places are one of three things: a car shop that offers a variety of services, including emissions; a small metal building built on a parking lot somewhere for the sole purpose of checking emissions; or my personal favorite, a building cleverly repurposed for checking emissions.

Do you remember the little tiny photo processing buildings that used to dot parking lots?

Cute, right? Well, they were cute for a while. And amazing. Because--and I know this is going to sound strange to the younger readers--you couldn't always see the picture right after you took it. Cameras didn't have clever little screens so you could check out your selfie and snap it again if it wasn't any good. But you didn't want to snap too many selfies either because you only had 24 pictures on that roll of film, and you needed to save some for the Statue of Liberty. If you're 5th grade me, you used ALL the pictures on the Statue of Liberty from the ferry. And you still didn't get any good ones.

Did you know a few of those little photo processing buildings still exist?

Well, not many of them, and if they do still exist, they tend to look like this one here.

Just up Briarcliff from here, someone is a genius. They took one of these little photo spots and turned it into an emissions place. Just like the bank building turned into a dentist's office with an emissions place in the basement. And the other day it got me thinking.

Buildings are built for a purpose. Many times, the changing world renders that purpose obsolete. When that happens, there are really only 3 choices: the building gradually falls apart from lack of use, the building is knocked down to make space for something different, or the building is changed to play a different role...to serve a different purpose.

A building, at its most basic, exists to provide shelter from the elements (and, in the case of commercial property, a fixed location). In order to thrive over time, though, even a rigid building must ultimately be...flexible. It must be usable for other purposes. Or else it will be destroyed.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post called "What Would You Say It Is You Do Here?" I was thinking about how much my role as a church music director had shifted over time. I landed on building community as the constant for me in ministry. That is, whatever I've set out to do, it has been in the interest of knitting people together and building their relationships with each other, the community, and God. Ultimately, though, it is critically important for me to allow the day-to-day functions to shift with the needs of the community and the church. Because the best way to build community today may not be the best way to do it tomorrow.