I have a small confession to make. At least once a week I went out drinking with the boys. At least once a week, maybe on a Friday morning, I would make my way across the street from my place, and meet with three or four other guys at the Deli. We drank more than our money’s worth of Java, and there we discussed the problems of the universe. Sometimes one can find valuable nuggets of wisdom while shooting the breeze with a salty cab-driver or an old-fashioned blacksmith (who swore by his wife’s health secrets while knocking back jugs of coffee). And sometimes, it got pretty banal!

But I loved those guys. They kept me on my toes, and they allowed me to step on theirs. There was a lot of give and take at this ‘round table’.

One day, (I don’t know how we got to this subject) someone remarked about the “fact” that man has one less rib than a woman. To my surprise, I found that it was quite a common belief, and I wondered out loud how many people actually believed it. Although the Bible says that God caused a deep sleep to come over Adam and created Eve out of Adam’s rib, I really have no idea what went on during those moments. But God certainly did not alter Adam’s genetic makeup to cause his male descendants to have one less rib.

There are some untrue things (like the “one rib short of a ribcage” thing) that, if believed, will not cause a great deal of harm. I don’t even get all that upset when someone refers to the apple that Eve bit into. (Check it out. The Bible doesn’t mention an apple). I do get irate when Jesus Christ and His message get distorted to make Christianity look like it was made for idiots and fools. That distortion continues to happen on the airwaves and does untold damage to unsuspecting people who swallow the lies and the deception. Through the fog that so much distortion causes, many leave their quest for truth altogether and despair of ever finding meaning and purpose.

The main burden of my heart is to simply state that the Truth does exist. When I struggled as a teen with the skewed caricatures of Christianity that I saw all around me, I complained loudly to my father. In response, he gave me a very helpful picture that I will never forget. He pointed to a large construction site in downtown Winnipeg.

“Look at that building, Werner, and tell me what you see,” he asked.

I said, “I see scaffolding, and large, ugly sheets of plastic. I see chunks of spilled concrete at the base of the building. I see mud, piles of gravel, trucks, cement mixers and dirty men with hard hats one.”

My Dad replied, “One day, all of that will change. The scaffolding will come down, the mud will be replaced by grass, the glass windows will shine and sparkle in the sun. And it will appear to everyone to be exactly what the architect originally intended it to be.”

One day, when Jesus returns for His purchased possession, the one true church will be presented as His Bride; unblemished, sparkling and clean, without all the paraphernalia that clutters our vision today.

I want to encourage you today to look for that Absolute Truth about Christianity. Look beyond the ugliness and the distortion, beyond the surface drapery and beyond the dirty looking construction workers. God says ,“And you shall seek me, and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” Have you ever done that?

Do I care whether you believe males have one rib less than females? Hardly. Do I care whether you believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, Truth and the Life? You bet your life.