In my previous post, I mentioned the new water line that is currently being put in adjacent to the road where we live. This new pipe is twice as big as the existing one. This will help to provide our neighbors and us with better pressure. In addition, it should also help to ensure an adequate supply of water for any future growth in our community.
As I have taken my daily walks and witnessed the inevitable progression of the line, I have noticed that the contractors who are undertaking the job have some serious equipment! By this I mean that they are using a multitude of enormous machines, each one for a specific purpose within an overall project.
Observation of the crew shows them utilizing flatbed tractor trailers for hauling pipe, dump trucks for hauling dirt and gravel, front end lifts for moving stacks of pipe, track hoe excavators for digging lines, jackhammer excavators for breaking up rock, skid steers for covering over lines, a miniature steamroller for repaving asphalt over road cuts, street sweepers for cleaning up, straw spreaders for re-seeding, and of course, numerous pick-up trucks for a multitude of inherent other purposes. I am quite sure that this list is not complete. There is little doubt that many other vehicles are also involved.
As I have observed this menagerie of construction machinery, several thoughts have come to my mind. Allow me to share a few of them here.
First, each piece of machinery in the system serves some basic purpose, fulfilling some unique requirement within the overall project. They are all quite different in how they are made. Few if any resemble any other piece. And yet, they have each been made and then assembled here to be a necessary part of a larger picture.
What one can do, another cannot do. And what another cannot do, one can do. Uniquely and individually qualified for the various jobs they do separately, they then work together to make a very effective team of equipment.
Moreover, while they come in a wide assortment of sizes, shapes, and colors, each bearing differing marks related to their manufacture (such as Caterpillar, Case, Kubota, Mack, GMC, Ford, etc…), they all bear marks of similarity as well.
To begin with, each has the name of the owner, in the form of a logo or seal, boldly emblazoned upon it. Clearly, the owner prizes his vast array of machinery, and proudly proclaims that each and every piece belongs to him and no one else!
Beyond this, each piece is also adorned with a number, as well as a sticker boldly proclaiming that it contains a GPS Satellite chip someone on board. The implications are clear. First, even though the owner may not always be seen on site, one can rest assured that he knows exactly where each and every piece of his equipment is at all times.
He is clearly serving notice to any who would consider stealing any given piece that their whereabouts will be immediately conveyed to him. So, don’t even try!
But there is yet another implication as well. The presence of the GPS notification sticker reminds us that the owner, who has invested so much in the acquisition of his prized machinery, now has fundamental expectations of each and every piece as well.
In his pursuit of his overall objective, he also knows what his specific expectation is for each individual piece.
He has no doubt conveyed that expectation to his crew, the foreman as well as the operator of each individual piece. And he now subtly reminds them that he watches expectantly from above to see exactly how they are progressing in their assigned tasks!
At this point, I trust it is obvious that here are many similarities here to those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. God, too, is in the serious equipment business! Think about this with me for a moment.
We were each uniquely created by our God. In the process, we were each seriously equipped, in that we were each endowed with certain very specific gifts and abilities in the process. We were then each purchased by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, and then sealed with the Holy Spirit as proof that we belong to Him.
Thereafter, in the perfect will of God, we were each eventually assembled as a part of some team somewhere, the local church, where we are now expected to fulfill our purpose by using our unique set of gifts to glorify God by doing whatever it is we are called to do, all in order to see that the greater task of sharing the Gospel is continually carried forward.
All the while, our Heavenly Father watches carefully from above. He watches, first, in order to protect us. And He watches as well to note our individual contribution(s) to the overall progression of the Gospel and the deliverance of its benefit to others.
Do you see yourself anywhere in this illustration? I hope so. For you and I alike were seriously equipped for service to God. We were each first created, then endowed, then redeemed, then sealed, then assembled, and are now ultimately expected to be contributing to the progression of the Gospel and its purposes.
Again, I hope we are faithfully doing this very thing. If we are not, then we should not be surprised if our Owner suddenly appears and begins to ask why this is so!
I leave you with the piercing question that Jesus Himself once posed to His disciples (in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verse 1-8): “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth?”
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/luke/18-8.htm.
As I have taken my daily walks and witnessed the inevitable progression of the line, I have noticed that the contractors who are undertaking the job have some serious equipment! By this I mean that they are using a multitude of enormous machines, each one for a specific purpose within an overall project.
Observation of the crew shows them utilizing flatbed tractor trailers for hauling pipe, dump trucks for hauling dirt and gravel, front end lifts for moving stacks of pipe, track hoe excavators for digging lines, jackhammer excavators for breaking up rock, skid steers for covering over lines, a miniature steamroller for repaving asphalt over road cuts, street sweepers for cleaning up, straw spreaders for re-seeding, and of course, numerous pick-up trucks for a multitude of inherent other purposes. I am quite sure that this list is not complete. There is little doubt that many other vehicles are also involved.
As I have observed this menagerie of construction machinery, several thoughts have come to my mind. Allow me to share a few of them here.
First, each piece of machinery in the system serves some basic purpose, fulfilling some unique requirement within the overall project. They are all quite different in how they are made. Few if any resemble any other piece. And yet, they have each been made and then assembled here to be a necessary part of a larger picture.
What one can do, another cannot do. And what another cannot do, one can do. Uniquely and individually qualified for the various jobs they do separately, they then work together to make a very effective team of equipment.
Moreover, while they come in a wide assortment of sizes, shapes, and colors, each bearing differing marks related to their manufacture (such as Caterpillar, Case, Kubota, Mack, GMC, Ford, etc…), they all bear marks of similarity as well.
To begin with, each has the name of the owner, in the form of a logo or seal, boldly emblazoned upon it. Clearly, the owner prizes his vast array of machinery, and proudly proclaims that each and every piece belongs to him and no one else!
Beyond this, each piece is also adorned with a number, as well as a sticker boldly proclaiming that it contains a GPS Satellite chip someone on board. The implications are clear. First, even though the owner may not always be seen on site, one can rest assured that he knows exactly where each and every piece of his equipment is at all times.
He is clearly serving notice to any who would consider stealing any given piece that their whereabouts will be immediately conveyed to him. So, don’t even try!
But there is yet another implication as well. The presence of the GPS notification sticker reminds us that the owner, who has invested so much in the acquisition of his prized machinery, now has fundamental expectations of each and every piece as well.
In his pursuit of his overall objective, he also knows what his specific expectation is for each individual piece.
He has no doubt conveyed that expectation to his crew, the foreman as well as the operator of each individual piece. And he now subtly reminds them that he watches expectantly from above to see exactly how they are progressing in their assigned tasks!
At this point, I trust it is obvious that here are many similarities here to those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. God, too, is in the serious equipment business! Think about this with me for a moment.
We were each uniquely created by our God. In the process, we were each seriously equipped, in that we were each endowed with certain very specific gifts and abilities in the process. We were then each purchased by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, and then sealed with the Holy Spirit as proof that we belong to Him.
Thereafter, in the perfect will of God, we were each eventually assembled as a part of some team somewhere, the local church, where we are now expected to fulfill our purpose by using our unique set of gifts to glorify God by doing whatever it is we are called to do, all in order to see that the greater task of sharing the Gospel is continually carried forward.
All the while, our Heavenly Father watches carefully from above. He watches, first, in order to protect us. And He watches as well to note our individual contribution(s) to the overall progression of the Gospel and the deliverance of its benefit to others.
Do you see yourself anywhere in this illustration? I hope so. For you and I alike were seriously equipped for service to God. We were each first created, then endowed, then redeemed, then sealed, then assembled, and are now ultimately expected to be contributing to the progression of the Gospel and its purposes.
Again, I hope we are faithfully doing this very thing. If we are not, then we should not be surprised if our Owner suddenly appears and begins to ask why this is so!
I leave you with the piercing question that Jesus Himself once posed to His disciples (in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verse 1-8): “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on earth?”
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: https://biblehub.com/luke/18-8.htm.