Dear Process Dept,
As we approach the Christmas holiday tomorrow, please permit me to write to you some things behind the significance of this holiday to all our lives. Many regard this holiday as a "Christian" holiday but in truth it belongs to everybody regardless of your culture and it is a day we have simply set aside to cherish in the birth of Somebody.
I ask that you allow some space in your hearts to read what I am about to write. I consider the sharing of the Christmas story to be far more important than the sizing of vessels, control valves, relief valves and many other day to day work that we do as Process Engineers.
Not that they are not important of course. But just as the sun dwarfs the lamp in light-giving, so the proclamation of things revealed to us triumph over daily engineering work.
This year is the year 2014. It is actually more appropriate to refer to the year as 2014 A.D. and A.D. is Latin for anno domini which is the starting of a reference point called "the year of our Lord."
Why has the calendar system revolved around this"year of our Lord"?
Simply put, the reference point for this system is taken to be the year that God walked on our very earth. Many times, when people think of God (if they think of God at all) they imagine Him to be a mighty being, invisible to our eye, dwelling in a place where we can never approach. God is indeed invisible to our eyes for none have seen Him and He does indeed dwell in places we cannot go to, but roughly 2014 years ago, He did decide to take the form of a human being and interacted with us. Not only that but He choose to appear in the meekest of all forms - that of a very infant which we know as Jesus.
Why did he do so? He came because year after year, we as human beings make a right mess out of our very lives. This year we had to deal with the loss of two passenger planes (one unexplained, and one shot for no reason). This week alone, we are faced with news of people in Australia being held hostage and murdered while simply enjoying coffee.
These are major things but within our own lives we deal with pain, mourning, loss, sickness, death, betrayal, and so on. It is a result of a thing we call sin.
Thus God had to appear. The word we call gospel in English is from the Greek word euangelion which means "good news". The good news of Christmas was that God out of his love will reverse the effect of sin by first bearing the punishment we deserve for making that mess through sin, and then sanctifying people to be free from its effects.
This is the message of Christmas. As engineers we are part of a breed of humans who have done incredible things to help the human race. One of the highlights of these achievements include placing man on the moon. A minister of the gospel named Rob Frost however said that we must remember things in perspective - "It is more significant that God walked on earth than that man walked on the Moon."
As you enjoy your holidays, I ask that you consider thoughtfully the Reason behind the season. Happy holidays :)
Sincerely,
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