This post was written by our brother and friend Jim Parrow, who presented it recently to the Keller church of Christ. Jim is not only a fine man; he is a native New Yorker and a very capable speaker. Thank you, brother! Note: this post appears unedited, just as Jim gave it.
LIFE’S JOURNEY
What was started after the French had given
up on a project they began in 1881 and was restarted by John Findlay Wallace in
1904, then handed off to John Frank Stevens in 1905, completed under George
Washington Goethals between 1905 -1914?
48 miles long
110 feet wide
37 feet deep
Displaced 211 million cubic yards of earth
Took 10 years to build – Once the US took
over the project
Cost $375 Million dollars and 25,000 lives
1881 -1914
Connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean
Via 3 UP LOCKS & 3 DOWN LOCKS
Connected through the 164 SQ MILE manmade
GATUN lake
Now used by more than 15,000 ships per
year
Construction was through very dense jungle
Swarming with venomous snakes, insects, and
spiders
Exposing workers to mosquitos carrying Malaria
and Yellow fever and a host of tropical diseases.
Workers were dying at the rate of 200 per
month.
The project required the construction of
housing, cafeterias, hotels, water systems, sewage systems, repair shops,
warehouses, and a railway ALL IN ADDITION TO THE Project itself.
Years of arguments, disputes, claims, counter
claims, accusations and a flood of criticism overwhelmed all the Engineers in
Charge but especially Col Goethals. He
never let the obstacles or criticism sway him from the completing the monumental
and very difficult task before him.
Oh yes - the project is known as the Panama
Canal
Helped to shorten a war that the critics
could not have foreseen in 1914
while enhancing world trade and reducing a
67 day journey to 8 hours.
We can turn to Genesis 5:32 through 10:1 and find another overwhelming project
that was put before a man to accomplish facing odds and challenges we cannot
comprehend, and at the time, unlike the Panama Canal, for no apparent reason to
every ones understanding, except of course for Noah. Do ya think Noah would be
criticized???
At the age of 500, he was assigned his
civilization saving task. I’m only 69 and I already have lower back problems, hurt
when I carry in the groceries, along with a host of other issues, so I can’t
begin to imagine what Noah must have felt like at his age doing such tremendous
manual labor, let alone the mental challenges he would face.
Vs 5 of Gen 6 tells us “The Lord saw how
great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth and that every
inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
In Vs
7 he went on to say – “I will
wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created and with them the
animals, birds, and creatures that move along the ground” – but Vs 8 “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord”.
Ch 6
vs 9 /
Ch 7 vs 4 outlines the specific
instructions of WHAT he was to
build, HOW he was to build it, WHAT would be permitted to go into it,
and HOW he would need to provide for
the survival of the precious cargo and VS
5 tells us Noah “DID ALL THE
LORD HAD COMMANDED HIM”!
At 600
years of age the floodwaters came. Noah, his wife , Shem, Ham and Japheth
and their wives entered the ark and after 150 days, God sent a wind Ch 8 vs 1and “the water receded”.
On the 601st
year on the 2nd month on the 27th day the land was once again dry
and God told Noah to come out of the ark. Ch
8 vs 13-15
Ch 9 then goes on to tell us about God’s covenant with Noah
and via the rainbow in the sky declares unto Noah God will never flood the
earth again.
Noah lived to see God’s plan move forward
until at the age of 950 years he died. Noah
never allowed the difficulty of the task, or his obvious critics to sway him
from him completeing his God’s task – God’s Way.
We know that George Goethals lived with 10
years of critics who kept telling him he
was a fool, the project could never
be done, it was not worth the time
and money and lives, and on and on.
We do not read the specific of the Critics
that must have berated Noah as he and his family followed God’s commands, but I
believe it is logical to believe that building a huge boat in the middle of
dry land with no water in sight
could not have been accomplished without a century of criticism and ridicule.
Those
who do not know God will always criticize those who do and though we live in
the world we must refuse to be a part of the world.
2
Peter 2:5
– goes right back to Noah – “And
spared not the world, but saved Noah the eighth person, A PREACHER OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS. Bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”
1 John
2:15
– “Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world, if any man love the world, the love of the Father
IS NOT IN HIM”
John
15:19
– “If ye were of the world the world
would love his own: BUT because ye are not of the world, I have chosen you out
of the world , therefore the world hates you”
In our schools, our jobs, our athletic
teams, our business dealings our neighborhoods, our political system, the world
will tempt you to cheat, steal, gossip, backstab, lie, fulfill the desires of
the flesh, hate, seek revenge or look the other way when someone else does, OR FACE THE RIDUCULE, CONTEMPT AND
REJECTION OF THOSE WHO DO! They may be your Boss, Co-Worker, Neighbor,
Class mate, your closest friend or even a family member. The Devil does not
give up! He will not stop trying to tempt you to “go along to get along”.
Even
when you don’t, others will claim that you do.
Matthew 11:19 claims Jesus was a
glutton, a wino, friend of sinners
Mark 14:64 claims Jesus spoke blasphemy
John 8:48 - 52 that Jesus was possessed by the
devil
As Children of the Almighty and Everlasting
God we MUST heed the words of Romans
12:2 “Be not conformed to the
world, but be ye transformed [Metamorphose – Metamorphosis – change from
one thing into something else] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”
Like a Spiritual
Panama Canal – We must make our own spiritual journey from the Kingdom
of the World to the Kingdom of Almighty God through a world full of even more
challenges and dangers than Goethals faced.
Like Noah we must enter into our own Spiritual Ark to carry us through the
crashing waves, and stormy seas that are all around us here on earth.
2
Corinthians 5:17
assures us that “. . .if any man be IN Christ [Our Spiritual Ark] he is
a new creature. The Old Things [like
life on earth before the flood] are passed away, behold ALL things become
new [like Mankind after God directed Noah to leave the Ark.]
If you need help to face your critics, to
face the challenges before you, this making your life difficult and effecting
your walk with the lord, we are all here for you. These are challenges common
to us all and no one in this family of God will judge you because you have
fallen and need help to get back up and make yourself right with the Lord.
If we
can lift you up and lighten your load
As we
sing # 394 “What Will You Do with Jesus” Ask yourself - What will “I” do with
Jesus? Will “I” enter in to His Ark of Salvation so “I” can make my Journey to
Eternal Life Safe in His Care?
If we
can help you in any way
Come forward
now as we stand and sing!
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