Temple Building

Hearty greetings reader!
It's been a long time since my last post and the poor little boat has been waiting patiently for its owner in the garage.

In the last few months, I've done the most building I have ever done in my life!
But it wasn't 'Boat Building', it was 'Temple Building'!
We had a Bible study youth camp themed 'Becoming Temple Builders' and we studied the short message of the prophet Haggai.
King Cyrus in about 536BC made a decree (recorded in the Bible and on Cyrus' Cylinder) that the Jews exiled in Babylon could return to their land and rebuild Solomon's temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years before.
Over a period of about 15 years, the Jews became disheartened and uninterested in rebuilding the temple and focussed on building their own houses instead.
The prophet Haggai gave a message of rebuke and encouragement to the people so that they would resume building the temple and reinstate the proper worship of God. The people responded positively to Haggai's message and got back to work on the temple!
(The prophet Zechariah also encouraged the Jews around this time period).

Because our study weekend was themed on 'Haggai - Becoming Temple Builders', we wrote and performed a play to help the people at the camp understand the context in which Haggai's 4 messages were given. Every good play needs a good set, and as a mechanical engineer it was my job to design the play set. I designed a 15m long set in 3D CAD and then over a period of about 4-5 days we constructed it. The left-hand side of the play set represents the abandoned temple construction site and the archway is just a generic gate which looks cool and acted as a stage entrance point.

Initial concept sketch

3D model of Play Set

Building works underway

The set was built from pallets, MDF sheets, pallet racking and 100's of nails and screws.
The bricks were made from polystyrene boxes cut up and given a coat of paint. The bricks were glued on with liquid nails.
The great thing about a play set (in direct contrast to boat building) is that accuracy is hardly a consideration. I think our tolerances were probably about 10-20cm!

Building works nearing completion.

The finished set

Camp Photo

We also thought it would be a good idea to build a giant timeline of the years surrounding the prophet Haggai to help everyone understand the time period. My wonderful girlfriend and I put together this timeline.

The timeline design

 The timeline was made from dismantled pallets screwed together to form a giant wooden board. It wasn't particularly sturdy, but it worked in the end and had a good rustic look to it.

Constructing the timeline

The completed timeline was put on top of pallets and secured very firmly to the wall.

Giant timeline on the wall

It was a big effort building the set and the timeline but it was lots of fun!
The set and timeline helped us to understand the book of Haggai, to 'consider our ways' before God, and to sharpen our vision of the kingdom of God on earth which Haggai mentions and which Jesus Christ taught us to pray for.

The bonfire where we burnt the remains of the set and timeline!

Now that the Temple Building works are completed and have served their purpose, I will have some more free time to work on my lonely boat. 

Adios fellow 'Boat Builders' and/or 'Temple Builders' or neither.