We had a meeting at the Bognor Regis Kingdom Hall this morning. The brothers from the Building Committee gave us several talks about the work that is to start next week. The angle was very much on how Jehovah will help us, and on Health and Safety. It lasted nearly two hours, I was surprised to notice - as the time just flew by.
The first speaker started off by reminding us about the building of the Tabernacle and reading Exodus 36:1,2: “And Bez′al‧el must work, also O‧ho′li‧ab and every wise-hearted man to whom Jehovah has given wisdom and understanding in these things in order to know how to do all the work of the holy service according to all that Jehovah has commanded.” And Moses proceeded to call Bez′al‧el and O‧ho′li‧ab and every wise-hearted man into whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, everyone whose heart impelled him to approach the work in order to do it."
We then read Exodus 35:25,26: "And all the women who were wise of heart spun with their hands, and they kept bringing as yarn the blue thread and the wool dyed reddish purple, the coccus scarlet material and the fine linen. And all the women whose hearts impelled them with wisdom spun the goat’s hair."
I doubt we will be needing any goats hair spun, but I love the idea that if we are wise at heart and want to serve Jehovah he will give us the wisdom and practical skills to do so. Especially needed in my case. Although I am not sure what I will be able to do, beyond make cakes, which the brothers will apparently be wanting in large numbers to have with their cups of tea. I have two reliable recipes from the days when I used to bake for the Red Sea dive trips - carrot cake and marmalade muffins. I may have to get the recipes out and dust them down. IF the new medicine kicks in, I will certainly offer to wash up and peel veggies in the kitchens. But at the moment I can't stand up for more than about 10 minutes.
However, if I get to the restored earthly Paradise, there will be all sorts of things to do there, wonderful things, building, gardening, teaching all the resurrected dead - and learning more and more about Jehovah and his purposes. And it is good to be reminded that if we trust in Jehovah, he will equip us to do his will.
The second speaker started off by asking us what is Jehovah's view of life? And of course, the Creator of life views life as sacred and highly values it. Therefore so must we. And we were discussing the provisions of the Mosaic Law - Jehovah's law. For example, when a house was built, God’s Law required that its roof—a place of considerable family activity—have a parapet. “You must also make a parapet for your roof, that you may not place bloodguilt upon your house because someone . . . might fall from it.” (Deuteronomy 22:8) If someone fell because this safety law had not been observed, God held the owner responsible. No doubt, application of the loving principle embodied in this law would minimize accidents at the workplace or even in recreation.
And, yes, it would. I was reminded of a tragic incident many years ago when my parents were still alive. There is a block of flats beside their bungalow - 4 storey I think - with a flat roof. In the Fifties and Sixties builders and architects seemed to forget that it rains a lot in England. Anyway this roof needed some attention and there was scaffolding up and some workmen on the top, and lots of clattering and banging. Then suddenly the site went quiet and all the workmen went home.
It turned out that one of them had fallen from the roof, onto concrete and died. And I feel sure that if a barrier, a parapet, had been erected while the building work was going on that would not have happened.
Its not that Christians are under the Mosaic Law. They aren't. But we can and must learn from the principles that it teaches us.
So we heard about all the safety precautions that will be taken, and what part we can each play in keeping everybody involved with the build safe.
Col kindly drove me there and one of my siblings drove me back and dropped me off at my front door.
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