Testing God

On July 24, 2013, a train carrying 218 people in eight carriages derailed in northwestern Spain, killing 79 people and hospitalizing another 66. Shortly after the wreck, the driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, told officials, "I can't explain it. I still don't understand how I didn't see …. I just don't know." He said the journey was "going fine" until the train hit a curve. At that point Garzon said to himself, "Oh my God, the curve, the curve, the curve. I won't make it."

Despite Garzon's initial confusion and surprise, there is a simple explanation for the crash. Video footage revealed that the train was going as fast as 119 mph before it hit the deadly curve. That's more than twice the speed limit for that section of the track. So it wasn't just the speed that caused the accident. It was the combination of the speed and the location of the track. The train was designed to reach speeds of over 130 mph. But Garzon, who was a 30-year employee of Spain's national rail company, simply ignored the boundaries in which those high speeds were to be used.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) God's Commandments; Obedience—God has laid down the track for us so we don't wreck our lives or the lives of other people. We ignore his speed limits at our own peril. (2) Sex; Sexuality—Our culture needs to hear how the message of speed limits applies to our sexuality. (3) Limits; Balance; Rest—Ignoring our God-given limits for work or success or productivity will only lead to wreckage.

There's a very important letter that every pilot-in-training needs to learn about—the letter V, short for velocity. V-speeds are derived from aircraft designers and manufacturers during flight testing. Heeding to the limits of V-speeds maximizes aircraft performance and safety. The FAA has designated at least 35 different V-speeds. All of them are important, but there are six that every pilot must master.

For instance, according to the FAA manual, VR is the speed required to get a plane airborne in a reliable, predictable fashion. VS refers to the plane's stalling speed. One knot higher and you're flying. One knot lower and you aren't flying. VA is often called the plane's "design maneuvering speed." Given rough flying conditions, exceeding the VA speed can cause structural damage to the plane. It essentially implies a warning: slow down, or cool it. VNO is self-explanatory. It corresponds to the upper limit of the plane's airspeed in smooth air conditions.

Finally, there's the velocity classification known as VNE, which essentially stands for "Never," as in, "Don't even think of going there!" VNE is the absolute, never-to-be-exceeded limit for your aircraft. An article in Flight Training magazine explained why you should never break the limits of VNE:

The manufacturer, its engineering staff, and the test pilots who brought the airplane to market are all in agreement: You should never attempt to fly your airplane faster than VNE for any reason. Even the color code—a red line on the airspeed indicator—says stop. So take their word for it.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Disobedience—This illustrates what happens when we flaunt God's "training manual" and decide for ourselves how we can live our lives. (2) Sabbath and Rest—This illustration could also be used in a sermon about the Sabbath or true rest. When we continually break the physical limits given to us by God, we're flirting with danger and possible disaster.

Within the ruins of a large copper-processing center in the lowlands of Jordan, an international team of archaeologists has found evidence that shows Edom may have been an advanced society as early as the 12th century B.C. The evidence proves that it was most definitely an advanced society by the 10th century.

Why is this significant? In biblical history, the Edomites were the descendants of Esau and a continual thorn in Israel's side. Edom, though smaller than Israel, occasionally had to be dealt with by force, perhaps most notably by kings David and Solomon.

Scholastic society has long debated the reliability of the Bible as history. A significant contingent of scholars has long held that the Edomites, who were a nomadic people, could not have become a cohesive society by the 10th century B.C.—thus negating the biblical accounts of a genuine rivalry between the Israelites in Judah and the Edomites. This school of thought believes that the biblical writers exaggerated the advancement of both states.

But Dr. Thomas Levy—an archaeologist from the University of California, San Diego, and a leader of the excavation—concluded that the findings in the Jordanian lowlands fortify the biblical account. Radiocarbon dating of charred wood, grain, and fruit has yielded the first high-precision dates in the region, and the discovery of hammers, grinding stones, scarabs, and ceramics is telling evidence of Edom's stature at the time.

Levy and his fellow researcher, Dr. Mohammed Najjar, have met with both enthusiastic support and heated criticism from their academic peers. Still, they maintain that the excavation of the copper works at Khirbat en-Nahas "demonstrates the weak reed on the basis of which a number of scholars have scoffed at the idea of a state or complex chiefdom in Edom at this early period."

They added, "The biblical references to the Edomites, especially their conflicts with David and subsequent Judahite kings, garner a new plausibility."

In his book Mayflower, historian Nathaniel Philbrick recounts the struggle of the Pilgrims during the shaping of early America. Although the first Pilgrims managed to establish a peaceful relationship with the Native Americans, the following generation devolved into bloody warfare. The war, known as King Philip's War, began in 1675 and lasted 14 months.

One conflict between the two groups is notable because of the minimal number of casualties. In March of 1676, a group of Indians numbering as many as 1,500 attacked the village of Rehoboth. Philbrick writes:

As the inhabitants watched from their garrisons, 40 houses, 30 barns, and 2 mills went up in flames. Only one person was killed—a man who believed that as long as he continued reading the Bible, no harm would come to him. Refusing to abandon his home, he was found shot to death in his chair—the Bible still in his hands.

In December of 2005, Reverend Michael Eden threw out a challenge to the congregation of St. Peter and St. Mary's Church in Stowmarket, England. Repairs were needed for the church's 14th century structure, and Eden directed the congregants to the parable of the talents.

In an innovative twist, he gave each of the 90 parishioners 10 pounds (about $18) and instructed them to "go forth and multiply." Amazingly, that's what the people did. One person bought baking ingredients and made over $750 selling cakes and scones. Another invested in wool and earned $138 selling scarves. In the end, the church raised over $9,200.

Commenting on his unusual plan, Reverend Eden observed, "God gives us all sorts of things, but does not expect us to waste them and do nothing."

In a Spin interview, Scott Stapp, the lead singer of Creed, discusses the impact his strict religious upbringing has had on his life:

"I tell you, [my son] is a spitting image of me. You love to see yourself in your children, but I don't want him to have the same demons that I have. I don't want him always thinking about the grand scheme of things—life and death and heaven and hell and good and bad. That's the cross I bear daily…"

"My whole life was church," Stapp says. He had Bible study on Friday evenings and attended services every Wednesday night, twice on Sunday. He was forced to wear a necktie to high school. His weekend curfew was 10 P.M. "I would sit in my room and wish I could go to parties after the football game," Stapp remembers. "I wished I could go to the prom. I felt weird: I felt different…"

"I constantly found myself asking God to prove himself to me, which is a cardinal sin. I'd lie in bed and say, 'God, if you're real, just make my light go off so I won't doubt it. I promise I'll be the best Christian in the world.'"