Where are the MASTER BUILDERS?
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
will be a speaker at our nation-wide "GATHERING" near
Kansas City on July 3-4.
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From: "Bryan Hupperts" <deepsheep@sheeptrax.com>
"Where Are God's Master Builders?"
-Bryan Hupperts (June 2, 2004).
In St Louis, a bridge I have always been curious about is the
world renowned Eads Bridge.
With its superstructure arches built underneath, the Bridge
looks like it was built upside down. While researching this
historical landmark I learned something about God's need
for master builders.
For more than a century, the Eads Bridge has connected
Missouri and Illinois across the muddy waters of the
Mississippi River. It was built by a self-educated engineering
genius from Indiana named James Buchanan Eads. After
the Civil War, Eads had already earned quite a reputation
by supervising the construction of eight ironclad steamers
in just 65 days, a feat thought impossible. In his remarkable
life, he invented the submerged sand pump to remove sand
and silt from the river, still in use today, and figured out a
way to open the mouth of the Mississippi so ships could
travel to the ocean.
The Eads Bridge remains an engineering marvel.
Commissioned shortly after the Civil War by desperate
St. Louis businessmen who realized the only way to keep
their city relevant to the development of the country was
to find a way to have the railroad come through their city. But how?
Considering that the Mississippi is the second largest river
on the planet, and that several previous bridgebuilding
attempts had failed, they needed a visionary who could
redefine what a bridge was, and think outside the box. They
found their visionary dreamer in James Eads.
Engineers warned Eads that the undertaking was impossible
because it had never been done before. All who had tried
previously had failed. His reply remains a visionary classic:
"Must we admit that, because a thing has never been done,
it never can be, when our knowledge and judgment assures
us it is entirely practical?"
Eads assessed the failures of the past and actually made
several dives to the bottom the of the riverbed in a diving bell
apparatus he quickly invented, concluding that for a bridge
to be built, it would have to be sunk some 96 feet into the
limestone bedrock of the city.
Using the European process of Pneumatic caissons, large
watertight chambers for working under water, he designed
and built the world's first super bridge which is still in service
today for trains, cars, and pedestrians. When it was
completed, he and his team had created the world's first
alloy steel bridge - the first to use tubular cord members
and cantilever construction.
Most bridges have their metal arch framework on top, but
Eads' was built beneath, giving rise to the notion it has been
built upside down. When it was completed, Eads hired
several trains and one stomping parade elephant to cross
back and forth across his bridge to assure the public that it
was indeed really a bridge, and was in fact safe for travel.
James Buchanan Eads was a Master Builder. During recent
renovations to the bridge, modern day engineers were in
awe of the workmanship they uncovered stating that much
of it was absolutely modern. Eads innovated revolutionary
engineering concepts and metallurgy techniques, and is
revered for being more than a century ahead of his time.
So where are the Master Builders of the kingdom of God?
Those who know the church must go deeper into the
bedrock than ever before, those who wisely spy out the
land, and conclude the impossible is entirely doable
provided we completely rethink our strategy, those who
know we must remain relevant if we are to impact our
world yet we must remain true to our calling, those who are
not afraid to build what does not look like a traditional
church but is in fact a century ahead of its time? Where are
those who dare to dream in God and then build according
to the heavenly pattern? Where are God's Master Builders?
As the Apostle Paul said in 1Corinthans 3:10, "According
to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise
master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds
on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it."
Amen.
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Reference:
-The National Encyclopedia for the Home, School and Library,
Vol. III., National Encyclopedia Company, Chicago, 1927.
-Everybody's Cyclopedia, Vol. IV., Syndicate Publishing
Company, New York, 1912.
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Copyright © 2004 Bryan Hupperts. Permission to distribute
this material via email, or individual copies, is automatically
granted on the condition it will be used for non-commercial
purposes and will not be sold.
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St. Louis, MO 63127 USA
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