The 49 level is a name given to the landing in the Steel Plant where the steel is made, where transformation takes place. The charger bay crane delivers the next full ladle of molten iron, pouring it into the giant converter. The orange coloured liquid quickly engulfs the tons of scrap steel lying in the bottom. Crushed cars and washing machines, crumpled fridges and cans, losing their distinctiveness as they mix and merge together in this crucible of change. The steel maker adds the correct ingredients. An oxygen lance is lowered through the centre of a water cooled lid now covering the vessel; and the process begins. Sulphur and phosphorus impurities, excess carbon are burned away. It’s in this hot noisy, dirty environment that transformation takes place. I worked as part of the maintenance crew in the Steel Plant; my job was to fix the parts of the plant that had broken down so that the process could continue. Unfortunately the steel making end of that steel works is no longer there, but I keep a sample of the steel that we produced on a key ring. I keep it in order to remind me that steel can only be made through extreme heat and that God uses trials and difficult experiences in our lives to refine us and to purify our hearts. I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10) I am now a church pastor and father of four. I still observe transformation taking place. Broken lives are being changed by the love of God. The change doesn’t take place in a clean clinical environment; it takes place amidst the noise of traffic. It happens across the table as friends share a meal. In church buildings and offices, hospitals and homes. It’s in the crucible of life that most changes take place. That’s the 49 level.