Minutes of Meetings with God
and with Myself

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The Witness Post ...

Some time ago, our dog, Samantha, and I were out doing our regular run. We go west on Dixon Road and then turn north on Old Lloyd Road. When we made the corner at Dixon and Lloyd, I saw something that I had never noticed before. It was a little sign on the northwest ditch bank. The sign said: "Witness Post". Underneath those words was a warning to not disturb the sign. It was placed by the U.S. Geological Survey Services to indicate a nearby survey marker.

That was the first time that I recall ever seeing that little sign. I don't think I have run or walked past that spot for the last 12 or more years without seeing the sign, if it had been there before. There has been a good deal of survey activity in the area over the last several months and I've concluded that, while the survey marker may be old, the witness post is new. The surveyors had probably put up the sign.

That sign sparked my curiosity and I wanted to find out what a "witness post" was all about. So, I went to the library, a good place to start, and found some books on surveying and even did a little exploring on the InterNet. The books proved to be the most helpful. They had a description of how in surveying, a critical reference point is established, a point that the surveyor knows exactly where that point is in relationship to the whole rest of the earth (latitude and longitude). The ground around that point is surveyed from there.

To make sure that the future surveys are consistent, that critical point is marked so that it can be found again and the traditional practice is to mark the critical point with three "witnesses." The witnesses are nearby, at least semi-permanent, easily identifiable features of the area (trees, fences, large, immoveable rocks, etc.) from which any other surveyor can measure to find the critical spot (a "triangulation" strategy).

As time goes on, the witnesses to the critical point, might change, the witnesses might succomb to time and the elements, might be moved or disappear and make the critical point harder to find. However, the critical point stays the same and can always be found (now with the help of geo-positioning satellites). The witnesses just make it easier to find the reference point from which everything else is measured.

There had been a large old tree near the spot on Old Lloyd Road where the AWitness Post@ had appeared, but the old tree had died, rotted, and recently been taken down. It's my guess the old tree had (for probably decades) been "the witness" for the survey marker. With the tree gone, a new "witness" had to be posted.

I haven't been able to shake off thoughts about the "Witness Post." It keeps coming back to mind, but not in regard to surveying. I keep thinking about it in terms of Christian faith and life and questions that seem quite important keep popping into my head.

One of the key questions has been: "What is the critical reference point for Christian faith and life; what is that one spot from which everything else is measured?" The answer to that question seemed easy at first, but the longer I thought about it, the more complex finding an answer became. On one hand, the critical reference point for Christian faith and life has traditionally been thought of as the life and teachings of Jesus. However, since the Reformation (that started in 1517, about 480 years ago), there has not been much agreement among Christians (or anyone else) as to either the life or the teachings of Jesus. Sometimes there seems to be almost as many opinions about Jesus, about how he lived and about what he taught, as there are people. At least in our day and age, the life and teachings of Jesus are a moving target, not the one point that never moves or changes.

I began asking myself: "Is there something that everything in the Holy Scripture led up to? Is there something that everything in Jesus' life led up to? Is there something that, if it didn't happen, everything in the Holy Scripture, everything in Jesus' life and teaching would have become meaningless? Is there something that, after it happened, everything was totally different and full of new meaning?" It seemed to me that the answer would be the critical reference point for Christian faith and life. It would be the critical reference point for which I search.

"Is there something...?" The answer to that question is "Yes, there is!" And that something is the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. The Apostle Paul said it most powerfully:

" If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Cor 15:13?19)

If we are followers of Jesus the Christ, everything before and everything after gets measured in reference to the Resurrection. It is in the Resurrection that the love and the power of God are displayed in their fullest. It is in the Resurrection that everything is made totally different. In the Resurrection God turns everything upside-down. It is in the Resurrection that everything is given meaning. That meaning has to do with human reconciliation with God and with each other. In the Resurrection, love, life, healing, justice, peace, the end of suffering and pain, all that is good, becomes a real possibility. This Resurrection stuff seems so crazy, but, again, the Apostle Paul speaks powerfully:

"If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."(2 Cor 5:13?19)

Now I find myself asking: "How can I be a "witness post" that others can use to find the critical reference point for Christian faith and life?"