I thought about this fact while my husband and I enjoyed a few days on the coast this summer.<\/p>\n
Just as we were about to leave, the glassblower picked up a piece of metal tubing and headed toward the furnace. So we sat down to watch him in action.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve watched glassblowers before, but no\u00a0one has ever explained what they were doing. This man did, and it was fascinating.<\/span><\/p>\n The glassblower uses two different furnaces as he works.\u00a0The first is the furnace that contains a crucible of molten glass. This furnace is heated to over 2000 degrees<\/em> F.!<\/p>\n He dips a hollow steel tube into the hot molten glass and rolls a glob onto the end of the tube.\u00a0Rotating the tube all the time so the hot liquid glass doesn\u2019t fall off, he takes it out of the furnace and rolls the blob of glass on a metal table called a marver to shape it and cool it.<\/p>\n To open up the inside of that blob of glass, the glassblower blows into the tube and then covers the hole with his thumb.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ve always naively thought glassblowing was like blowing up a balloon<\/b>. You just blow until you get the size you want.<\/p>\n Wrong.<\/p>\n He explained that the moisture in his breath turned into steam in the heat and that is what causes the bubble of air to expand inside the glass blob.\u00a0He can\u2019t just get a big blob of glass, roll it a few times, and then blow it into the vase or bowl or lantern that he wants.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a slower process.<\/strong><\/p>\n He gets the bubble started.\u00a0The glass starts to cool. So he puts it back into a second cooler furnace (“only” 1600-1900 degrees) to make it more malleable again.\u00a0He rolls it more on the marver.<\/p>\n He dips it back into the molten glass in the hottest furnace to make it bigger.\u00a0He rolls and shapes and cools it again on the marver.\u00a0He blows to make the bubble inside bigger.<\/p>\n The glass goes back and forth between the hottest furnace for more molten glass,\u00a0the marver for shaping and cooling, and\u00a0the secondary furnace for more heat to make it malleable again,\u00a0while the blower continues to blow more air into it,\u00a0always watching to make sure the walls don\u2019t get too thin and break or too thick to be beautiful and usable.<\/p>\n So every time the glass starts to lose its ability to be molded, it goes back into the heat.<\/p>\n That blob of glass had no idea what it was going to become under the skill of the glassblower.\u00a0It submitted itself to the heat,\u00a0the shaping,\u00a0the blowing,\u00a0and it became a beautiful, glorious, serviceable piece of art to adorn someone\u2019s home or workplace.<\/p>\n Can<\/strong>\u00a0you see the picture of God at work in our trials and suffering?<\/b><\/p>\n In and out of the furnace we go.\u00a0God knows exactly how much heat we need — what will cause us to break, and what it takes to make us malleable as He works in our lives.<\/p>\n He shapes us, and then puts us back into the heat so He can continue His shaping work.\u00a0He\u2019s making us into something beautiful, a reflection of His glory, a picture of His Son.\u00a0And He\u2019s making us usable, someone who is ready to trust and serve Him.<\/p>\n The Holy Spirit blows His breath into us,\u00a0changing us from the inside out,\u00a0while circumstances and trials work on us from the outside.<\/p>\n And through it all\u00a0God is carefully overseeing the whole process<\/strong> —\u00a0watching us grow,\u00a0knowing what He wants us to become, and\u00a0applying the heat and the pressure to bring that to pass.<\/p>\n Remember that secondary furnace, the one that is only 1600-1900 degrees hot? That smaller furnace is called the glory hole<\/em>!<\/p>\n That immediately brought a verse to mind.<\/p>\n “For\u00a0this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison”\u00a0<\/em>(2 Cor. 4:17).<\/p>\n God puts us into the fire to change us.\u00a0He\u2019s making something beautiful, preparing us for glory.\u00a0And sometimes, as God puts us into the fire, we get a glimpse of that glory.<\/p>\n We understand in a new way how great and powerful<\/b> God is.<\/p>\n We appreciate more deeply the privilege of having a high priest<\/b> \u201cwho in every respect has been\u00a0tempted as we are,\u00a0yet without sin\u201d — a\u00a0priest who bids us come near to the throne of grace so we can receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"In](\"http:\/\/www.doorposts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/In-the-Furnace-100714Glass-blowing1-300x200.jpg\")
We had visited one of our favorite glassblowing studios in this artsy beach town, and after watching the artists work, we\u00a0ventured further south to another studio.\u00a0<\/span>It was a grayed cedar building, hidden in the trees, and we spent a half hour admiring the beautiful vases, bowls, lanterns, and other glass items on display.<\/p>\n![\"dreamstime_m_3412752\"](\"http:\/\/www.doorposts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/dreamstime_m_3412752-1024x768.jpg\")
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