I suppose this is a...
Illustration
I suppose this is a bit of confession. Many people have "mis-
spent youths," but aren't pastors supposed to be perfect? When I was a precocious 12-year-old in the eighth grade, I conceived the idea of building a bomb. The school's encyclopedia contained a recipe for old-fashioned black gunpowder, and my friend and I decided it would be fun to try making some. The ingredients were simple and cheap, available over the counter at our local pharmacy. We bought lots! We weighed, mixed and stirred, and in a short time had a big jar of dark grey powder. We made a slow-burning fuse (instructions in our science textbook!) and packed powder into a plastic medicine bottle. We lit the fuse, dropped our supposed bomb into a hole we had dug, and sat back and waited. Bright pink flame and clouds of acrid smoke poured out of the hole, but there was no "bang." What had gone wrong? Back to the encyclopedia we went, to study plans of explosive devices. Aha! We had missed two essentials: the powder had to be packed tight, and the right spark had to be applied. But ... how to do it? We tried all sorts of things, and had all sorts of accidents (I still have a burn scar on my left hand), but we never achieved the kind of explosion we desired. We never found the spark. ... but God found the spark to set off an explosion of holy energy in the early Church. He called the event Pentecost. -- Walker
spent youths," but aren't pastors supposed to be perfect? When I was a precocious 12-year-old in the eighth grade, I conceived the idea of building a bomb. The school's encyclopedia contained a recipe for old-fashioned black gunpowder, and my friend and I decided it would be fun to try making some. The ingredients were simple and cheap, available over the counter at our local pharmacy. We bought lots! We weighed, mixed and stirred, and in a short time had a big jar of dark grey powder. We made a slow-burning fuse (instructions in our science textbook!) and packed powder into a plastic medicine bottle. We lit the fuse, dropped our supposed bomb into a hole we had dug, and sat back and waited. Bright pink flame and clouds of acrid smoke poured out of the hole, but there was no "bang." What had gone wrong? Back to the encyclopedia we went, to study plans of explosive devices. Aha! We had missed two essentials: the powder had to be packed tight, and the right spark had to be applied. But ... how to do it? We tried all sorts of things, and had all sorts of accidents (I still have a burn scar on my left hand), but we never achieved the kind of explosion we desired. We never found the spark. ... but God found the spark to set off an explosion of holy energy in the early Church. He called the event Pentecost. -- Walker
