January 19, 2011 (Wednesday)
I like science, but, to tell the truth, I never did well in science classes in school. Whether it was chemistry, physics or biology, my grades were never very good. So my topic in this blog is somewhat presumptuous, considering there is a good possibility that I don’t have a good grasp of the subject.
I want to talk about acid. Acids come with different names that identify them. Some of them are quite simple, like vinegar. Another common one is citric acid, found in lemons, oranges and grapefruit. Some are very mild, like salicylic acid, used for facials. I bought a toilet bowl cleanser a few months ago that featured hydrochloric acid as the active ingredient.
Not long ago, we decided to try out muriatic acid (another name for hydrochloric acid) to remove some hard water stains. Didn’t work very well, but the bottle got tipped and some of the acid seeped out through the cap onto the concrete floor. Well, we cleaned it up as soon as we found it, and did it ever clean the concrete. It left just a small spot, sort of a circle with a four inch diameter. In our garage there was a very clean spot on the floor. After a few days we could see it was still working even though we thought we had cleaned it up. The concrete surface became rough. In the following weeks, we have watched it continue to eat away at the concrete at that spot. Now it is an indentation, quite rough, with a part of it almost a quarter of an inch deep. Strong stuff, this hydrochloric acid.
My preacher mind always wants to make a sermon out of stuff, so here it is. Just calling something an acid does not say enough–we need to say what kind it is. Certainly the juice of a lemon is different from the kind of stuff that eats concrete. Now, here’s the preachy part: just calling someone a Christian is an insufficient description. Just as there are many types of acid, so there are many types of Christians. Am I talking about acids or Christians in the following statements? Some are mild and harmless, while others are strong and even dangerous. Some are pleasant to be around; others cause a burning sensation. Some improve a situation; others damage it.
What kind are you?