Razor Wire and John 15
December 2nd, 2007 Posted in Christianity, Personal
I thought I’d share something that happened to me when I was in School, three years ago in fact.
Casting my mind back to November 2004 I was in Upper Sixth at Ballymena Academy, supposedly studying for my A Levels the next summer. It was around this time each year the Senior Christian Union would head away for the weekend. Seeing as I never took anything to do with the Christian Union up until the previous year I had never been before. I had been on plenty of Christian retreats so in many respects it was nothing new to me but there was one moment which has resonated with me to this very day and will do for some time to come I am sure.
A couple came over from England to take the talks and generally organise the spiritual side of the weekend, leaving the teachers free to get on with logistics of ensuring a bunch of 16 - 18 year olds behaved. For about the past ten minutes I’ve been wracking my brain trying to remember their names, if you read this and were there please enlighten me! I’m getting a David, but hey, how many Christians called David do you know?
To cut to the chase they got the rabble of semi-adults to try this exercise involving black and white photographs. The idea was simple in that there were about 30 - 40 photographs lying on a table and all you had to do was look at them. Whichever photo struck you the most or you felt most drawn to you took away for 15 minutes and thought about what God might be saying to you. Typically most of the photographs were of trees, animals, scenery and generally quite inspiring vistas. Yet for some reason I was drawn to a picture that was very similar to the one posted with this blog entry.
Not the most inspiring photograph you will ever see.
It wasn’t immediately apparent to me why I took this photograph. In fact the girl standing beside me at the time told me afterwards she took a double take when she saw me lift it. Nevertheless that was the picture I was drawn to. After some time my head was filled with thoughts that suddenly made so much sense. The photo on the right isn’t exactly the same but the original looked more like a tunnel with light at the end. I was moving down this tunnel of razor wire, striving towards an end. It was going to be difficult, it was going to hurt and parts of me were going to be left behind but this tunnel had a prize and a reward at the end.
Even then I was immediately aware of some parts that had to go, and it scared me. At the time I knew vaguely about story of the vine but I had never really studied it in depth. Now having done so a few times, that photograph really spoke something quite powerful into my life.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” - John 15 v 1-4
Pruning. It is that word that draws this passage and the razor wire together. Looking back over the past three years of my life I can so clearly see how different aspects have been pruned, even though some of them were incredibly painful at the time. Moving to University, changing relationships and living away from home have all had an immeasurable impact on who I am as a person. I am not at the end of the tunnel and all I can be sure of is that there will be more painful times ahead but through this process of cutting away much greater things arise from the scars.
John 15 really is one of my favourite passages of the Bible. I’ll probably write more about this experience in the future and perhaps be more specific about different “pruning” events but for now I’ll leave you with a little sound bite that is a favourite of my flatmate which in many ways encapsulates the reasoning for John 15.
“Jesus doesn’t do death.”
9 Responses to “Razor Wire and John 15”
By Alasdair on Dec 2, 2007
It’s my favourite passage too. John 15:15
By Connor on Dec 3, 2007
Dave Jackson….
Is there something that made you remember this thought, or just randomly outta the blue come to you?
By Harrison on Dec 3, 2007
Something I had been chatting to my flatmate about brought it to mind, hadn’t really took the time to process where I had come from since picking up the picture. Helped to blog it actually, get the thoughts down and do some thinking.
The fact that I did it in the computer lab when I was meant to be revising had no bearing at all…
By Adam on Dec 8, 2007
I do believe it was ‘Dangerous’ Dave and Sadie Jackson, and I remember this exercise. I also remember having the piss taken out of me for choosing a sheep as my photo. Each to their own…
By Shelley on Jan 30, 2008
who was the girl who took a double take at your pic…
love this bit on changing relationships bein a pruning.
im so glad you picked up that picture.
i could see God was really starting to move in you back then and i am amazed by what i see now in you. amazing!
By Anelya on Nov 6, 2008
cool you saytik! Write more!
By Girl_sensation on May 2, 2009
interesting things!