Marching Forth!

Picture a husband and wife recently married.  The husband has been away on business and returns to his wife in the middle of the night.  The night is cold and damp.  Embers glow faintly on the hearth, like eyes peering into the room.   In a semi-conscious state, the woman hears her husband knock and call.  The drama unfolds at this moment:  " I sleep, but my heart is awake; it is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, "Open for me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is covered with dew, my locks with the drops of the night." 3 I have taken off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile them ?" ( Song of Songs 5:2-3 ) This is a tiny excerpt from King Solomon's "Song of Songs."  The bride heard the voice of her beloved as he knocked on the door.  He entreated her gently and affectionately, proclaiming his love for her.  In his view, she was flawless and without compare.  He...

God's love is greater than man's comprehension.  Yet in His grace God has demonstrated His great love for us through the willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It is a love so profound and limitless, that if it had size it would extend beyond the known universe.  God's love is deeper than an ocean, more powerful than the crushing weight of the greatest waterfalls.  About 70% of the earth is covered with water, and very little of it has actually been explored.  The best most of us do is roll up our pants and get our feet wet.  When it comes to God's love, the same could be said.  We can swim out a little into it, but to plumb the depths from our vantage point is impossible. In preparing for a sermon this week, I was reminded of a post written years ago called " The Ligament of Love ."  Love is the indispensable bond of perfection in the Body of Christ.  This week I was treated to another practical example of God's love in our lives.  For a...

After writing a post of the necessity for a "hands on" approach to Christianity, I decided it would be important to develop the concept a little further.  While "hands on" training is important for honing skills in a trade, the work done in the classroom is not necessarily what you will face in the field.  In fact, it is safe to assume the work done in a classroom will always be different than the field!  The concepts could be applied, but the differences are many.  The level of fitness required to be a mechanical insulator (potentially climbing up and down a 10 foot ladder hundreds of times in a day, for instance) is not addressed in the confines of a classroom.  In a classroom, the material needed for the job is on hand.  Specialised tools are easily accessible to fabricate metal.  Pipes and vessels in class are not energised, unlike in the field when repairs need to be made on "live" steam pipes.  In class therefore, no care is required to avoi...

Something I've been mulling over lately is the value of "hands on" experience.  When I was in training to be a journeyman mechanical insulator, my classes were broken into two basic parts:  book work and hands on.  We spent a good deal of time learning about hydronic systems, four and three pipe systems, chillers, boilers, and identifying what pipes or surfaces required insulation.  A bit dry at times, but valuable information.  But hitting the books did nothing to develop the eye, hands, or gain any practical experience of actually doing the work.  Hands on training was the primary part of our training so we could familiarise ourselves with layouts, cutting styrene, metal jacketing, fiberglass cloth, and rubber.  The high quality our teachers required was obtainable only after much practice, repetition, and the development of learned skills. In the church today, I think the tendency is to have things backwards.  In my view, there is a real poss...