The Linen Belt

I've been reading through the book of Jeremiah over the last few days and I'm astonished at how great it is. I realise I shouldn't be astonished but I am! Even in its sobering narrative of Israel's rejection of God, it contains so much truth that is deeply encouraging and sharpening.

One of the stand out passages for me is the tale of the Linen Belt in Jeremiah 13 (13, v 1-11). Who would have thought a story about a Linen Belt could be so powerful? I certainly didn't and you are probably thinking that I'm a bit mad. But read on and see what you think.

'This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy a linen belt and put it round your waist, but do not let it touch water." So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.
Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: "Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks." So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
Many days later the Lord said to me, "Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there." So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
Then the word of the Lord came to me: "This is waht the Lord says. 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubborness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt - completely useless! For as a belt is bound round a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the Lord, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honour. But they have not listened.'

Maybe you are still confused, but to me this passage spoke deeply of the dangers of leaving go of God's love, guidence and wisdom and seeking to replace it with something other than God. When the belt is wrapped round the man (when Israel, or now the Christian or those who have rejected Christ are seeking God) then it is as it should be. Once the belt is cast off into the ground (thereby Israel, the Church, Man, reject God for something else) it goes to ruin. Sobering stuff.

Space Shuttle

I'm currently weighing up the possibility of going to see one of the last ever Space Shuttle launches next year. I've been interested in space, and the Shuttle in particular, since I was a little kid, wandering down to the library with my Mum and almost always coming back with at least one book on the subject.

That interest persisted right up until I got to sixth form college and then it died out, being replaced by any number of things, from studies to becoming a Christian. However, in the last year or so my interest in the space programme and the shuttle has returned with avengeance. I suspect it has much to do with going to the US and actually seeing, first hand, some of the amazing (and tiny) spacecraft that were involved in the great space project.

Standing looking at and touching some of these space craft is amazing. Craning your neck skywards to examine the top of a full blown rocket gives you a real sense of just how crazy the early astronauts were to sit on top of what was essentially a giant firework. Yet, you don't get the experience of seeing, hearing and experiencing the launch. Even watching it on tv or youtube, its all dulled down by the limits of technology.

With that in mind i'd love to go to Florida next year and actually see the Shuttle lift off. Hear and see it in real life, in real time. I'd like to do it even more because next year marks the end of the Space Shuttle programme. Whatever follows (If something follows - Mr Obama is proving a little illusive on whether America will develop a new manned space programme) could be many, many years in the making, and this seems like one of the last opportunities to go and see something trully unique and spectacular - if you are a geek!