Continuing Education

   Our neighbor, Josh, could be seen standing out in his pasture near a granite boulder for several days in a row. It appeared that he was trying to remove the big rock using a propane blow torch, a powerful tool which actually left the top of the granite glowing red. When the torch was fired up, it looked like one of the light sabers made famous in the Star Wars movies and sounded like a jet taking off down the driveway!

    Finally one morning, during a lull in the torching, I walked across the driveway and greeted him.

    “What in the world are you doing?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

    “Trying to smooth this rock,” he replied. The boulder happened to be on the edge of the area where he was planning to put a prefabricated home for his grandma. 

    “How about renting a bulldozer or using dynamite?” I suggested half joking.

    Well, it turned out that using dynamite in a residential area is against the law, which makes sense! He had thought of a bulldozer, but the rock was huge.

    “It’s half the size of my house!”

   We were only looking at the tip, with the bulk of it below ground...a granite iceberg. At first he had tried using a ninety-pound jack hammer to break it apart; however, he said the shaking and jarring hurt his body. A jack hammer weighing ninety-pounds? How did he even pick it up?

   Then he had the idea of “scalding” the granite with the blow torch. This would melt the rock and cause it to fracture into thin flat pieces, making the surface smooth at ground level. He held up a thin slab.

   “After I’m all done, these can be broken up into DG for the driveway.”  

   Scalding rock? An online search revealed all kinds of ways of breaking up concrete and rock. There was even a conversation among rock climbers about whether or not it was ethical to take a small torch along when climbing in case the surface of the rocks were wet or too rugged to get a good foot hold. Smoothing the face of the rock would make climbing easier; however it might deface the rock wall. One wise climber suggested just not climbing when the conditions weren’t right. He will probably outlive the others!  

   Josh is ambitious. I would have found another spot for grandma’s house or maybe built a smaller version between the boulder and the pole fence around his pasture.  Anyhow, after keeping at it for several days, he was making good progress as evidenced by a growing pile of granite pieces in the pasture. Who would have thought?

    It just goes to show that people look at problems in different ways and use various strategies to solve them. My way is not always the right or the best way of doing things. Being open to change, innovation and learning is important no matter how old we get!

    The Bible says that God’s ways and His thoughts are much higher than ours. How amazing it is that He has chosen to reveal Himself to us through His Word and that He has provided a way for us to know Him personally through His Son, Jesus Christ! May we continue to grow daily in our knowledge and understanding of God—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV