mark kozlowski

What it Must Have Been Like.

Lately I have been working long hours on my senior design project. If you’re reading this and don’t know me, I am studying Civil Engineering at The University of Alabama. I’m nearing the end of my time as an undergraduate student here (just over three weeks left!), and am currently taking my senior design class.

Senior design has certainly been a mixed bag. Our group has been tasked with designing a community center for a new housing development. The project has been a combination of architecture (my favorite part) and structural analysis. There are parts about it that I’ve loved, and others that, well, I haven’t loved as much. While I could probably complain regarding the latter for hours, you probably have friends that are or have been engineering students and have heard enough of that.

Instead, I’d rather write about how the Lord might be teaching me about himself through this project.

During my time in the Forge, I came to learn and claim that (among other things) I am a creator, like my Father is a creator. I have a talent and love of bringing meaningful things into being that weren’t previously there. This manifests itself in different ways. I enjoy photography and writing, and while I was in high school I built an entertainment center and a desk - both are sitting in my apartment today. Learning this about myself was great affirmation that I had chosen my major wisely, however arbitrary the decision was at the time.

So what is it about creating that is so enjoyable? To answer that, I’d like to make the distinction between assembling and creating. When you buy a chair at Target, you bring it home in a box. From there, assembly methods differ: some of you make certain that you have all the pieces, meticulously separating them by function and working your way through the instructions. Others dive in confidently, because it’s just a chair, right? The 7”x7” picture on the box is surely the only guide you’ll need….and besides, you have too much sitting to be doing to waste time following instructions. Most folks fall somewhere in between. Regardless of your strategy, upon completion you feel at least some modicum of satisfaction.

Let’s say that now you have some extra time and cash on your hands, and you want to design and build your own chair. This won’t be just any chair, however. You want to make Eames’ design look like it was drawn in crayon. A lot of time is spent in drawing and designing, and even more time goes into its construction. After the last bit of sawdust has been wiped away, to the degree that you put effort into it your new creation exists as an expression of who you are. What is now sitting in front of you was once only a thought. You brought it into existence carefully, eagerly anticipating the day that you’d finish. This is infinitely more satisfying than putting together pieces from a box.

…and that is what it must have been like to create the first human.

You and I were created. There was no blueprint, save His image. You and I aren’t the product of robots on an assembly line, but rather we are fearfully and wonderfully created by the master artist and craftsman Himself - the Lord. If I scale the delight that I take in the things that I create up to Genesis 1, I….well, I won’t attempt to describe the delight and joy that God took in creating us in our compact complexity, not to mention the universe we inhabit.

I am very thankful that I get to experience the joy of understanding my Father’s delight, even if it’s through something as frustrating as designing a community center can occasionally be. As it becomes increasingly real, the more excited about it I become. I am glad this is the career field that I’m preparing for. I pray that as I continue in it, He will give me more glimpses into his heart, that I may grow in my adoration of Him.

• creating
• architecture
• woodworking
• God
• the forge