The flip-side of "Fortify"

Kevin Redding, Middle School Pastor at Shiloh Community Church (our home church until we move) gave an interesting definition last Sunday.

He used the word “fortify” in the following way, “A Barnabas-type friend is one who fortifies.”  He then illustrated “fortify” by pulling out a box of Coco-Puffs and reading, “Fortified with 10 Vitamins and Minerals.”  Drawing on the irony that a food product that is mainly sugar and bleached flour!, he came to the following conclusion-definition:

“To Fortify is to make something more than it can be by itself.”

I think I always took “fortify” to emphasize some kind of sustaining activity: supports are used to fortify a weak wall, to keep it like it is.  I really like the world-view lens Kevin gave me.  It seems that the effect of my assumed definition and Kevin’s stated definition are the same, I just really like the way Kevin’s statement makes things look!