by Adrian Moore, of Long Lee Methodist Church

In my travels I met a man who had been in charge of a City Mission. They had very little money but wanted a place in the country to take mothers and children for summer holidays.

One of his ambitions was to have a big fireplace where they could sit and enjoy a blazing fire, a focal point in the main room.

It was the wall of this fireplace he was to build. One of the helpers of this Missioner advised him to use a plumbline, but the Missioner scoffed at the idea, saying that it was only the simple wall of a chimney flush with the wall of the cottage.

A friend of the mission came by to see the project which he had heard about. By this time the wall was over half way up. This friend, who was a builder, asked 'had they used a plumb line?'

The proud answer was "No". It was checked and found to be out of perpendicular.

They had to remove several layers of bricks, much to the chagrin of the Missioner and the friend very kindly and expertly completed the work.

Now the lesson of this story is, that the Missioner was unwise to try and build without a plumbline.

But I have met many people who are attempting to build far more complex things than a wall without guidance.

They are attempting to build their character without a standard of judgement that is reliable and obedient to law.

The plumbline obeys the force of gravity and the house that is built by it stands.

It was the Prophet Amos who used the illustration: "I will test my people with a plumbline".

God's word - the Unchange-able Truth is set before us to help us build our lives.

If the plumbline is too mystical, try that of the Prophet Micah: "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God" or Christ's Royal Law, the Law of Love.

Thank you for reading this; hope YOU have a good summer holiday.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.