Between Two Colons

The past couple Sundays we have been visiting Pantego Bible Church. It's close to our home and I had heard good things about the church, so we decided to check it out. Their style of worship is contemporary and that suits us just fine. We are both learning new praise songs each Sunday. We really like the preaching. So far we have heard half a series of lessons on stewardship. We have found the messages to be very applicable, meaningful, Biblical, and well-presented. Though elements of their service are different to us, we like what we have found and it has been a real blessing to be able to attend worship together.

Last Sunday I spotted some curious punctuation in their church bulletin. A pair of colons were printed on a line where I believe they meant to use just one colon or perhaps an ellipse. The two colons were printed one right after the other and looked like this "::". I pointed out the punctuation to Jodie who noticed as I did that the only place one sees two colons together like that is on standardized tests in analogy questions. Remember analogies?

In analogy syntax a single colon represents the words "is to" while the double colon represents the word "as" to form a sentence which reads "A is to B as C is to D". One is supposed to make meaning of an analogous statement by following the pattern to discover a missing word or item. Through observing similaritites an obvious solution can be found to fill in the blank. Below are some examples.

Hand : Glove :: Foot : _____ (Shoe)

Lion : Pride :: ____ : Gaggle (Goose)

____ : Lee :: Responsible : Jodie (Jodie's trying to correct this one.)

All week long I have been thinking about that pair of colons. This peculiar punctuation that represents analogies is a perfect analogy for my life right now. Currently, I find myself comparing things to see the similarities and differences. I am looking for something that's missing by juxtaposing my past experiences with the present. This is certaintly true in our search for a church: moving outside our previous Methodist worship experience has been an eye-opener for Jodie and a breath of fresh air for us both. This is also very true in my search for employment: I am forced to consider all that I have done before in preparation for finding a position that will allow me to become all that I can be tomorrow. I am having to look back and forth at what has been and what could be to determine the right answer for what is missing.

I feel as if I am between two colons.