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Modern Armour From Chemistry

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The knights of medieval Europe protected themselves with armour made from metal plates.  With the advent of guns in the 16th century, this armour was easily penetrated by high speed projectiles.  But increasing the thickness, made it too heavy to wear.  It took developments in chemistry in the latter half of the twentieth century to provide practical, light weight, bullet resistant armour.

Modern ceramic and metal alloys can deflect bullets, but are not very comfortable or convenient.

The development of tough cross-linked polymer fibres like Kevlar has changed things.  Kevlar is so strong that it is used to make canoes and envelopes for courier packages.  The advent of Kevlar made lighter, flexible, and comfortable body armour readily available.  It's five times stronger that a piece of steel of the same weight, and can be worked like a traditional clothing fibre.

Kevlar is used to make bullet-proof vests.  Long strands of Kevlar fibres can be woven to form a dense net.  Because these fibres are interlaced, the whole net works to absorb a projectiles' energy.  A net is able to disperse the effects of an impact over a wide area.  Bullet proof vests further hamper the journey of a bullet using many different layers.  Each one slows the bullet a little bit more, until it stops.

So next time you go hunting with an amateur, maybe you should pop a Kevlar vest under your jacket.

MOVING BEYOND MATTER
by Christopher Shennan, Deborah Piggott and Ron Hughes

Few of us would want to go around with a Kevlar vest on all the time.  Besides, unless we are in the military or the police force, we are unlikely to need them.  We do need some emotional armour, however, to protect us against the psychological onslaughts of everyday life.

Unkind words, unjust treatment at work, sudden personal loss, disillusionment, broken relationships - they all have the capacity to wound us.  Consequently, we have to develop some kind of emotional armour so we are not damaged beyond our capacity to recover.

The trouble is, we can build such a thick coat of armour around us, it becomes a heavy burden.  Like medieval knights with thickened metal armour, we can hardly move through life with any degree of freedom.  People who over-protect themselves in this way can hardly form friendships for fear they might be betrayed.

The question we all have to answer is "Does our emotional armour allow us to engage with others in healthy ways, or does it keep us from connecting with others, so we end up isolated."

When we feel we are in danger, we live in a prison of fear.  A simple pleasure like walking down the street with a friend can be dangerous in some parts of the world and cause us to withdraw.  When we feel safe, however, we enjoy a wonderful sense of freedom, in Canada, where I live, we can find examples of freedom to express personal and cultural preferences in public just about anywhere, these days.

God also gives us freedom - specifically freedom to choose what we will do with the provision He has made to restore our severed relationship with Him.  When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting Him as our Saviour, we enter a new level of liberty - freedom from the penalty for all the wrongs we have done.  Through Jesus, God demonstrates His grace and love toward us by releasing us from the restrictions and burden of the old law.

Jesus wore no Kevlar vest or suit of armour when he went to the cross.  He was entirely vulnerable and gave His life so that we might know forgiveness, love, abundant life now and the promise of eternal life.  Now you get to exercise your freedom of choice - receive or reject Him.