The Dam Engineer – An Allegory
Sunnyville was a prosperous and pleasant town that had grown to have a sizable population over the last two decades. The big reason for the town’s success was that 20 years ago, a huge dam was built on the river just east of town. The dam was massive in its construction and its presence was unavoidable because it loomed high over the town. Not only did the dam fully control the occasional damaging floods that occurred from time to time, it provided steady irrigation water for the thousands of acres of cropland nearby and also provided a boatload of recreation activities in the large lake contained by the dam.
One of the residents of Sunnyville was Tom Burden. Tom was a civil engineer who had a lot of experience and talent gained from working on many large projects throughout America. After some years of following the projects, whether tunnel boring in LA or overseeing the construction of huge mining operations, Tom finally got what he considered to be, “the plum job.” Tom was appointed as the Chief Engineer for the Sunnyville Dam Project. Because the construction of the dam would take 12 years, Tom along with wife, Penny, and daughter, Allison, were able to finally put down some roots. Sunnyville would be their new long term home.
As the years went by, Tom and Penny loved Sunnyvale and were involved in many local events and activities because of Tom’s Engineer status. Both of them were on the local “Who’s Who” list and much sought after by many notable local people. They had regular interactions with the “movers and shakers” in town like the mayor, counsel members, judges and prominent business persons like realtors who had made fortunes in the long-term housing boom. Tom was proud of his work on the dam and enjoyed watching the height of the dam as it rose higher and higher. On the day the dam was completed, the Governor visited and after the too-long speeches and hubbub, life went on and settled down.
Since the dam was completed, there no longer was the position of Chief Engineer, but, Tom decided for the sake of his family enjoying a stable home, that he would take a pay cut and he accepted the position of the dam’s Onsite Engineer. His work involved a never-ending rotation of inspections of both the surface and below-ground structures of the dam. Outside, he would inspect the massive concrete spillway to keep an eye on how the concrete was holding up to the spilling flows. Below ground, Tom inspected the huge pipes that flowed water to the massive generator impellers. The engineering concern was that the vibration in the pipes would eventually cause weakness in their supporting structures resulting in a failure. Having a 16 ft. pipe under tremendous pressure rupture would be “very bad.”
One of Tom’s inspection routes took him deep into the bowels of the dam through the solid concrete core block, the area called the grout galleries. While the core block appeared to be solid, there was actually a labyrinth of passageways open for inspection where the dam’s drains could be monitored. Drains? Yes, shockingly, the dam had leaks, all dams do. As solid as the earth feels to us, the heavy weight of the water contained behind the dam plus the gravitational changes induced by the moon, caused the dam structure to shrink and grow a bit from day to day. The engineers understood this so not only were these leaks expected, they were planned for and accommodated with drainpipes. Tom would regularly observe the flow of the drains (which were all numbered) and chart them. Being in the heart of the dam was a moving experience. Once in awhile, Tom would take visitors on the “Gallery Tour” and more often than not, the tour-ees would be become anxious when seeing the drains, and occasionally, the tour would have to end abruptly due to claustrophobia. Tom on the other hand loved being alone in the gallery because he completely understood the workings of the dam and he had the utmost confidence in the dam’s safety.
Some more years passed and Tom’s job fell into a comfortable routine. But, one day while inspecting the grout gallery, Tom noted something unusual. Two flows in two widely separated drains had increased noticeably. Some minor fluctuations in the flow were normal but Tom found it interesting that two of the drains would increase at the same time. Tom felt that on the next inspection that things would be back to normal so he was not too concerned about it, he just thought it was a bit curious. A week later, Tom was alarmed to see that along with the two, a third drain had increased. Now that was really strange because it was positioned well away from the other two and in a lower gallery. This change seemed concerning and Tom made a call to the State Engineer of Dam safety, whose name was Fred. Fred brushed off Tom’s concern adding that he was going on vacation for a couple of weeks and when he returned, he would take a look.
Two weeks passed and Fred came as planned and after seeing the problem firsthand, suggested that they pump some grout into the drains to slow them down and he expressed confidence that doing this was the solution. Soon, a work crew with grout pump was brought in and, after three truck loads of grout were pumped in, the flows quieted down in all three pipes. But about a month later, to Tom’s shock, two other drains were now running faster and there was even a more ominous development… there was sand appearing in the flow. Another call to Fred was made and Fred suggested the same repair as before and after five truckloads of grout was pumped, all seemed well. But Tom was concerned and had a bad feeling about the situation and eventually he came to the conclusion that the dam was in a slow process of failing. Tom voiced his concern to everyone in authority but was soon branded as an “alarmist” over nothing. He was told that if he didn’t keep quiet, his fear-mongering would start panicking the locals. Meanwhile, despite several more truckloads of gout, the symptoms of dam failure continued, so, without alarming his wife too much, Tom convinced her that they should move to “higher ground.”
Now with Tom’s knowledge and understanding of what he saw, he felt responsible to tell others about his findings and so he scheduled an appointment with the mayor to warn him. Even though the Mayor was one of his close friends, Tom’s warnings fell on deaf ears because the fruit of a whispering campaign (behind Tom’s back) had proceeded him. The Mayor patronized him assuring him that he would, “Look into it” and added to keep quiet about it because, “You don’t want to panic people do you?” Tom went to his best friend, Mario, who was a successful Realtor in town. Mario seemed to be sincerely listening but remained firm in pushing back saying, “Information like this will ruin me, is that what you want?” Their conversation went nowhere and eventually Mario stormed out saying, “Great, the last thing I want to do is for everyone to think I am crazy like you, just leave me alone!”
Tom couldn’t believe what was happening. How it was that he was an expert in dam engineering and had a clear understanding on what was happening but others just didn’t care? Still he was still working, he noticed other small telltale signs that confirmed his suspicion. Every chance he had, he tried to warn people but they would not listen or even consider his concern. He even posted warnings on Facebook which only resulted in his friend’s list declining. After being warned too many times of causing panic, Tom was fired. Tom told his wife that a point had been reached where it was too dangerous to be anywhere down stream of the dam. Several more months went by and Tom and his family, feeling ostracized by their community, moved away. Tom was unable to find work as a Civil Engineer because his reputation proceeded him wherever he applied for work.
On January 23, at 4:26 am, nearly three years after Tom’s discovery of increased drain flow, the Sunnyville Dam catastrophically failed. More than ten thousand were killed and practically the whole town of Sunnyville was obliterated as well as many small communities that were downstream. The Governor started an inquiry saying, “How this could have happened and why wasn’t there a warning.”
This story is an allegory of people like me who openly share the Gospel of Christ. Although I am no trained expert with a educational pedigree like Tom, I have spent a greater part of my life learning about relationships and the Gospel of Christ. I have traveled to the lands of the Bible 5 times including a week long dive expedition to the Red Sea at the place of where the Jews crossed the Red Sea according to the story in Exodus. I have also walked upon the ashen remains of Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20) where brimstone (sulfur) balls are found which exist nowhere else in the world. I have seen the Great Scroll of Isaiah written at least 200 years before Jesus arrived and I have witnessed miracles such as my father’s inoperable cancer disappearing and his health restored giving us another two years with him. I have experienced many of the wonderful things that life offers and very few painful lessons.
So, after untold hours of studying the Bible and living a long life connected with God, (the way He prescribes), my conclusion is that God (our Creator) is the God told about in the Bible. His Plan to save us is a good one and understandable because it is based on what we experience in this life, especially in our relationships. The Bible says that the purpose of our mortal life is simply a time for us to choose. The choice is whether to acknowledge God as our Creator and accept our position as His created destined for citizenship in His Eternal Kingdom, or not.
You probably have an opinion on how personally qualified for Heaven you are or your level personal goodness. But the truth is that your opinion really doesn’t mean anything in God’s economy. The only opinion that means anything is God’s. Here’s a test you can take to see just how qualified you are to get to Heaven. God has set the terms for entry into His Kingdom which are in my view, very gracious and merciful because He sent His Son, Jesus, to do the heavy-lifting required for our salvation. You of course are free to rebel against God’s terms if you want but be forewarned, there will be no “rebels” in God’s Kingdom and, there is nothing that could be considered “good” in Hell.
My plea to anyone who reads this is to, ”abandon your own control of your life and head to the “Higher Ground” of a on-going, close personal relationship with your Creator. If you need help or have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. I don’t know everything about God’s Plan, but I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on and why. Because of the gravity of your choice, if you feel even the slightest inclination toward God, you owe it to yourself to read the Gospel of John and determine for yourself who Jesus is. Jesus knocks at the door of your heart beckoning you to open up your life for Him (Revelation 3:20). Do it today for time is short and our societies “drains are flowing” and we never know what a day will bring.
Photo by Armando Apollo from FreeImages
This is very valuable information. The most important lesson we must attend to. Our eternal life is dependent on this one simple message that must be made by each one of us personally.