| “Truly my soul finds rest in God…” |
| —Psalm 62:1-2 |
I became an engineer by accident—well, almost by accident. You see, as I have discussed on this blog on several previous occastions, I had three very distinct career paths laid out before me as I was growing up. Please allow me to elaborate.
The first was radio broadcasting, in which I was extremely fortunate to take an interest, beginning at age ten. By age twelve, God had provided a very amazing connection with the local radio station in my home town. I became an unpaid apprentice and spent six years learning every aspect of radio: announcing, engineering, production, news gathering and writing, commercial writing, along with the more mundane tasks of traffic—that’s keeping track of the records, tapes, and other media—and even cleaning the studios.
The second career path, fire protection, also began quite early, at age twelve, with the death of a little boy in my Sunday School class. He and several of his siblings were killed in a fire. This was 1959, the year after the tragic Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago. Fascinated with the stories about that horrible fire that claimed the lives of 92 children and three Roman Catholic sisters, I began to correspond with the chief fire investigator for the National Fire Protection Association. Because I had laboriously typed my letters to him, it took several years of back and forth correspondence before he realized he was writing to a teenaged boy. But, during junior high and high school, my interest in fire protection grew with the same intensity, and at the same time, as my interest in radio broadcasting and electronic systems.
The third career path was the Christian ministry. As a junior in high school, I felt a genuine call to become a pastor and went to college to pursue the very beginning aspects of that calling—including two years of Koine New Testament Greek and several Bible courses. However, during my freshman year of college, I became painfully aware that, psychologically and temperamentally, I was wholly unsuited to be a pastor. Thus, I changed direction and began to focus on fire protection.
Solely because of God’s grace and provision, I began my career in fire protection by serving on a local fire department. Then, I had a 30 year career with a major Highly Protected Risk insurance company, five more years with the major national fire protection engineering consulting firm, and continue to this day to lead my own very modest consulting firm. I eventually earned my Professional Engineering registration in fire protection engineering from the State of Connecticut.
Looking back on my career in fire protection that started as a firefighter in 1965 and interrupted, at least on a day-to-day basis, with my disability retirement in 2003, I can clearly see the many times that God opened up amazing and wonderful opportunities. However, all through those years, I never lost my interest in radio broadcasting and now find that in these sunset years of my life that interest has risen to a new high.
So, as I stated at the beginning of this blog post, I became an engineer by accident—well, almost by accident. One thing I have learned about engineering is that much of the progress that has been made in designing safer buildings comes from a grave concern that, in some type of emergency, a building might collapse before all the occupants can safely evacuate the building.
For example, in an earthquake, will the building withstand the dynamic forces set up by the shifting of the earth? The answer: when properly engineered to withstand those forces, the building might experience some shaking, but from a structural standpoint it will remain undisturbed. And, it will steadfastly protect the occupants until they can safely evacuate. That’s what a properly engineered building design is all about.
In our walk with God, He has made provision for us to remain unshaken, as well. He is a steadfast, unmovable God. He is always the same. He never changes. It’s no accident that faith in Jesus is the foundation of our spiritual formation. Jesus is our Rock. King David wrote these very important words in Psalm 62:1-2:
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
As we move out into the world today, let’s remember that nothing can shake us. We stand firmly secure on “The Rock”—the Lord Jesus Christ. He, along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, is our never-changing God. He will not let us down. He will keep us from shaking. With the unshakeable foundation He provides, we will surely withstand all that may come our way. We need only relax into His loving arms and trust Him for everything.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, January 16, 2017
