Little Metal Rivets

Take a look at the blue jeans in your closet -- or the ones that you have on. While blue jeans have evolved from apparel associated with hard labor (1930 -1940s) to counterculture (1950s - think James Dean, 1960s-70s - think hippies) to the cultural elite of today (you paid HOW MUCH for those jeans?), true blue jeans were designed as work pants by a man named Levi Strauss. He resolved to design and to produce work pants for men from a material that could withstand the rigors of daily manual labor. That problem was resolved with the development of denim. But then out in real life -- where it really counts -- the material held up but there was a problem of pockets tearing out under pressure. That initiated the hallmark of Levi jeans. Metal rivets were placed at the weak points to prevent the material from ripping. That procedure was patented in 1873.

Real life has a way of ripping out your seams and tearing out your pockets. It is under pressure that your fabric is tested -- that on which you rely, that which is really at your core.

What are your metal rivets? What reinforces you at your weak points? Prayer, reading your Bible, and fellowship with other believers. God uses them to transform your weaknesses into that which is strongest yet by pouring into you His strength. It is when we are weakest that His power is revealed most of all.

This God -- His way is perfect;
the promise of the LORD proves true;
He is a shield for all those
who take refuge in Him.
For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?
--the God who girded me with strength,
and made my way safe.
Psalm 18.30-32