Yield

No matter who you are or what you do, we always end up experiencing the world around us by relating it to things we know. I'm no different. The only problem is that the things I know are incredibly boring to most people. But you're going to hear about it now, anyway. If you're bored, just keep reading, I promise, you wont die. You might even learn something. I will have to preface this with a long, scienc-y introduction. Every material has what is known as its Modulus of Elasticity (or Young's Modulus). It describes how the material deforms when it is subjected to some sort of stress. This deformation is known as elastic deformation because the material isn't changed at all. Imagine pulling on a rubber band. You can stretch the rubber band out, and it changes shape, put when you let go, it goes right back to its original shape. Every material reacts differently (obviously). Even strong materials deform some, for example , if I were to stand on a 1" block of steel, that block would… 1"x1" = 1 in^2 180 lbf / 1 in^2 = 180 psi 180 psi / 30x10^6 psi [modulus of steel] = .000006" …get .00006" shorter. (That's about 100 times smaller than a human hair.) But when I stepped off, it would go right back to being 1" tall. Here's where it gets fun. If I ate a bunch of pizza and ice cream, and gained about 40,000 pounds, then stepped on that block again, it wouldn’t go back. All that weight was just more than that little block could take, and my fat self squished it. Permanently. That point, where it just can't take anymore, is known as its yield point. As much as we like to deny it, we work in the same way. We want to allow God to work in us, to mold us and shape us, but when the pressure is off, we bounce right back to where we were before. It hurts to have all that pressure on us, so we only allow God to push a little bit, so we don’t really have to change. But, if you want real change, you have to allow yourself to be pushed past your yield, to allow yourself to be shaped, into something different than you were before. 8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8 English Standard Version (ESV) Note: You should be grateful this ended here; I could have extended the metaphor much, much further. For a more detailed description, ask me or see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_(engineering) (Wiki is available 24 hours a day, I am not.)