George Patton was a funny, as in strange, guy sometimes. When traveling about Europe with his command during WWII, he occasionally gave highly detailed history lessons to his staff about battles that had gone on long in the past. Once when he was asked how he knew so much information about these ancient struggles, he replied simply "I was there." The Germans knew of his strange quirk and respected him all the more for it.

Once there was a building going up on a hunk of land in Longmont, Colorado. A large amount of gravel was needed for the foundation work, because the ground was treacherous expanding clay. Apparently if you spread out a bed of gravel first it makes the building safe and strong.

The builders went to a quarry to buy the gravel. They didn't have a lot of money, so they were more than a little worried about it. Once they got there, they found large sized gravel was too expensive. The tiny, pea sized gravel was even more expensive! They explained their problem, and their finances, to the quarry master. It turned out that only a week before one of the workers had mixed up a pile of large gravel and pea gravel for a buyer, who decided they didn't want it. Since everyone wants either large or small, the mixed stuff was considered a write off. He offered to sell it to them for the money they had, because as it turns out it was the perfect material for the building foundation.

What a coincidence, huh, that they were able to come away with what they needed. The building being built was a church, as you probably suspected, and the builders were the saints themselves. Yes indeed, the church in Longmont is built on a foundation of rock that was rejected! How do I know this? Because I was there.

Perhaps even though I was a witness to this you don't believe me, it all fits too nicely together or something. That's OK, you're welcome to contact some of the members there, or if you can find him the quarry master himself who sold the gravel. It seems funny to me, though, what lengths some people would go to disprove a witness.

For instance, some reject the bible because they don't like it. They'd rather believe a book that just suddenly shows up (like the book of Judas) and distorts and contradicts the bible rather than scripture that has survived for thousands of years and been repeatedly confirmed by so many other findings, has very creditable outside witnesses, etc. Scripture written by men who could have protected themselves by saying "I heard this" or "It was reported to me" or simply nothing at all. Writers who could say clearly and to their own danger, without any hope of some profit and indeed a guarantee of hurt and loss to themselves, "I was there." These were folks who knew something worthwhile to have and build their faith on when they saw it, rejected by others or not, and they weren't afraid to admit it. How about us?

Randy