I found this brick which came to us from the Salvation Army Canada West Territorial Training College located in Winnipeg back in the day. We sometimes say things like “if only the walls could speak” implying that we could learn a lot from them about the happenings within a particular room. I thought, ”If only this brick could speak” what might it have to say regarding the building of which it had been but a very small part?

Perhaps not unlike the stories of the hundreds of training officers and cadets who occupied this same building during its heyday. What parts do you suppose they played in the history of the Salvation Army in Canada?

What exciting stories and testimonies might we hear if we could chat with them a moment?

What sacrifices and hardships did they suffer while fulfilling their calls?

Who among us are presently members of the Salvation Army because of them?

That last question might be stretching it a bit as many are probably thinking they played no part in your or my being here. That may be so. But who really knows? Influence is a strange plant growing wildly in every direction, popping up where you least expect it, dropping seeds all over the place. If asked if William Booth had anything to do with my being a Salvationist my first inclination is to think of a direct connection and of course in doing so my answer might be “no!” (Now stop saying “Duh!’ and let me finish). Wikipedia tells me that “six degrees of separation” is the idea that all living things and everything else in the world are six or fewer steps away from each other so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

How valid this theory really is I don’t know but it’s highly likely that one of those westerners might be connected to someone who is connected to someone (no, I won’t do this six times!)…who is connected to you or to me, just saying?

By the way, the brick didn’t say as much as I thought it might. Apparently it was on an outside wall of the College and so all it did was complain about how cold it gets in Winnipeg!