The centre of it all #1

When I was in school studying for my GCSEs I had a wonderfully odd English teacher. He had a turn in his eye, loved to play rugby and most of the time he sat with his feet on the desk. The walls of his classroom were awash with newspaper cuttings and you would spend ages trying to surreptitiously read them, seeing if you could guess why they were there.

One term I recall a large lump of stone appearing on his desk. It was a smashed piece of stone with one smooth side covered in graffiti. It wasn’t complete and so you couldn't read what was written on it. Eventually, someone was curious enough to ask him about his piece of rubble. This lump of stone had been part of the Berlin Wall that had only just been dismantled (we remembered seeing all the crowds on the news). As soon as he had heard what was happening he got in his car and drove there!

The Berlin Wall was established after the end of WWII to separate the parts of the city governed by the Allied forces (West Germany) and the other half controlled by the Soviet block (East Germany). Streets, neighbourhoods and families were suddenly divided. Even though they had not moved and were still living in the same city a gulf was now between them because of this heavily defended wall.

We once had a "wall" in our lives which separated us from God. He may have been near us but we were still separated.
Even though we may not have realised it [at the time] this "wall" was at the centre of our lives; it defined [and divided] us. But as soon as Christ stepped into our lives, and we made him our centre, the wall was destroyed; we were made whole!

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." Eph 2:13