Volume 30, No. 39                                                     
October 2, 2005

Adhering To Our Beliefs

   If you want some hard and fast rules for successful living, look no further than super glue.

   A one-square-inch bond of that mysterious material can hold more than a ton, all because of its main ingredient, cyanoacrylate. That’s an acrylic resin that forms an incredibly strong bond almost instantly. The only trigger it needs is water which is found in at least trace amounts in almost everything.

   When cyanoacrylate molecules come into contact with moisture, they start linking up and whipping around in chains, forming a durable plastic mesh. The glue thickens and hardens until the thrashing molecular strands can no longer move.

   That chemical reaction was first noticed in 1942 by Dr. Harry Coover of Kodak Laboratories when he was trying to make a special extra-clear plastic for gun sights. His formula was no good for that, so he set it aside until, six years later, he thought it might make a suitable new plastic for airplane windshields. That didn’t work either, but Coover did discover cyanoacrylates could quickly glue many materials with astonishing strength — including two very expensive prisms he couldn’t pull apart after his main experiment.  

   In 1959 the public quickly bonded with Dr. Coover’s newly released product when he showed off its strength on the TV show I've Got a Secret. He placed a single drop between two steel cylinders and lifted the show’s host, Garry Moore, completely off the ground.

   A few years later, super glue was used in the Vietnam War to stop bleeding from open wounds until soldiers could get to field hospitals for treatment.  It saved countless lives.  Today, an improved version is used in medicine to close wounds and incisions with less skin irritation, more flexibility and three times the strength of the first compound. Cyanoacrylate glue is also used in dental and veterinary medicine, industry and even criminology because super glue can effectively detect near-invisible fingerprints.  

   That’s because, when you touch something, your fingers leave behind water (which evaporates) acids, glucose, and other proteins.  To make them visible, a smudged object is put in a heated, airtight container. Super glue gas is pumped in, it reacts chemically with skin residue, then the emerging prints are dusted with colored powder so they can be photographed.

   In the life of a Christian, faith is the super glue that holds everything together.  And it doesn’t take a lot.  As Jesus told his first followers, “even if you had faith as small as this mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there.’ and it would.“ (Matt. 17:20)  Trouble is, we miss out on moving the mountains because we’re too busy messing around with the molehills.

   That’s largely because we underestimated the role of the Holy Spirit, the living Water who must be present in our lives before faith can work.  After all, faith isn’t just an intellectual understanding of God and his Word.  It’s a solid trust in our Father’s power and willingness to keep his promises, one that gives us the guts and godliness to do things we otherwise wouldn’t even try.  

   When our faith comes into full contact with his transforming power, the resulting reaction binds us to God with astonishing strength.  It’s too bad most of us start by placing our faith in other things, with disastrously disappointing results. The truth is, faith isn’t much help if we try to use it to set our sights on the things of this life.  Nor does it give us much clarity if all we want to do is fly high with those around us.  In fact, misplaced faith dooms us to loss and failure.  Still, that’s often the only way we find it’s true value.

   Once we take the risk and embrace an unwavering trust in God that dictates how we think and live, we’ll feel stuck to him, not with him.  Our faith will lift us up, bind our wounds and reveal our true identity to anyone willing to investigate.  Like the chosen people of times past, you’re called to “love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.  For the Lord is your life.” (Deut 30:20.)  Let that awareness become permanently set and your relationship with Him will never come apart.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ church family in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To receive these free weekly articles via email, send a note to sgamble@bfree.on.ca