forged in fire: the quench

on forged in fire, when the bladesmiths have shaped their blade, they do this thing called a heat-treat. this is where they take their blade and heat it up in their forge to an even temperature. I am not an expert in what they are doing at this point, but I know that this step is critically important. they often say that the heat treat will either make (or literally) break their blade. so they pull this blade in and out of their forge over and over until it has an even glow to it, and then they quickly dunk the blade in a big drum of oil. this is one of the best parts of the show- they call it the quench. sometimes fire will jump out of the oil drum.

after the blade has cooled, the bladesmiths immediately check their blade. all kinds of things can happen during the quench: it can crack, it can warp, or their heat treatment may have not worked. sometimes when it warps, they quickly put pressure on it to get the blade to warp back. the bladesmiths will then do a file test. this is where they take a metal file and rub it against their blade. if the heat treatment worked, the file will skate along the surface of the blade; if it didn't it will dig into the blade.

again, I have seen every single episode of this show- I have seen hundreds of episodes, and I'm still a little unsure of what happens in this moment, but here is what I understand- the heat treatment makes the blade hard. it makes it so hard that you can't even drill a drill bit through it. the heat treatment makes the blades so hard that they can be bashed into metal, ice or concrete and they will not bend even a little. the process of heating the blade and then cooling it in oil transforms the metal from a workable metal into immovable steel. on a molecular level, the metal is changed. it immediately goes from pliable to strong and solid. a file won't dig into it, and drill can't drill through it, it has become bullet-proof.

we are forged in fire. transformation is a concept that is found all over the bible- one of my favorite verses in 2 corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" the moment that anyone trusts Christ, they are transformed into something different and new. we're not bullet-proof, we don't even feel strong sometimes, but we are different than what we were before. The bible describes it as moving from darkness to light, from death to life, from blindness to having sight.

God is the blacksmith and we are the steel. His process of creating something new and special is different for everyone; but for each of us, He takes us on a journey from what we were, to something new, onto a special destiny of what we will become. we are all somewhere on the process of that journey- we are all becoming strong and sharp, and useful in His hands.

God is love.
-rev-rob