Resosurce

• Christian Personal Ethics, C. F. H. Henry, Eerdmans, 1957, pp. 350ff
• L. S. Chafer, GraceLeadership, IV, 4, p. 86

Walking the pipe

As a young child growing up in Zimbabwe, I had an interesting father figure come into my life. He taught me much about life and God and would take the time it help me overcome my fears, one of which was heights. Over the Mathenslope river there was a water pipe that stretched out over a valley that was perhaps 30m over the ground at its deepest point. The task was to walk across the 140 m long pipe, interjected by concrete blocks. The first 15 metres were easy, but as the ground below slowly disappeared out of focus, things got more difficult. As I would walk, the pipe would appear to be moving and fear gripped me until I was forced, normally at the first block, to turn around. Eventually my friend agreed to go before me, two steps ahead. I could not touch or hold onto him but he was there. And so I lifted my eyes and focused; not on the pipe, but his back. He stopped and went at my request and before I knew it I was half way there, I.e. there was no more use turning back... and I had walked the pipe. The pipe symbolises the law. We cannot fulfill the law by focusing on the law and trying to keep the commandments. But as we follow Jesus and look to him, living in his example and his power we actually accomplish what we could never otherwise do and to an even greater extent. Fulfilling the spiritual laws and not only the written ones. Pastor Mike Wagner