Validation

I come from an aerospace background, some of which is about the business of system and software validation:  does this new system do what the specification says it should do?  There are lots of ways to do that, like simulation, test and analysis.  The goal is always to help the product be what it's designed to be.

This little video (16 min) illustrates what happens when someone decides to validate other people.

Peter Lord was recently interviewed here by Seth Barnes of Adventures in Missions, and said he wished he'd preached less and invested deeply in just a few people instead.  He described the American church as "better than nothing" but pointed out that the weak aren't heard in groups larger than 12.  And "church is particularly for the weak."

He also once said, "If you want to improve a product, find out what's wrong and fix it.  If you want to improve people, find out what they're doing right and commend it."

What would happen if we started validating the beautiful parts of each other that our good God designed into us? Maybe even more often than pointing out each others' (real) deep flaws?  There's a lot in the Bible along those lines. Let's give it a try.