Years ago I had some fundamental classes in drafting. I learned how to correctly lay out a print for various building projects and the accepted way to write numbers and letters. Later, as a contractor, I would draw some simple plans for my jobs.

I learned quickly that everything I plotted on my prints might not be practical and could even be impossible to build. After a while I became better at knowing what would and what would not work. I was then able to guide my crew in a direction to make the job as profitable as it could be. There seemed to always be things that came up unexpected, but because of our experience we could work them out.

I also was able to work with some men that had given a lifetime to their trade. Many of them had never read a print but could build about anything and build it right. They had learned lessons that had been passed down from the generations before them. These people before them had learned by real life experience.

I was taught values by my parents, grandparents, and teachers. For the most part they had learned these values from real life experiences.

As a young man, even though I was a hard worker, I had the wrong values. I had heard the “testimony” from experienced people, but I did not take it to heart. I was looking at life from the perspective of a set of blue prints that I had drawn without having the life experience to draw them correctly.

Since experience can be a hard teacher, is it possible that the “testimony” of someone who has been there is as good or even better than having the experience? Is there a source available to us that would give us the answers to all of these “real life experiences?”

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington High School Gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 West Court Street.