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There once was
a bridge which spanned a large river. During most of the day, the
bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with
the banks, allowing ships to pass thru freely on both sides of the bridge.
But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge
would be turned sideways across the river, allowing a train to cross it.
A switchman sat in a small shack on
one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge
and lock it into place as the train crossed. One evening as the switchman
was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the
distance thru the dimming twilight and caught sight of the trainlights.
He stepped to the control and waited until the train was within the bridge.
He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror, he found the locking
control did not work. If the bridge was not securely in position,
it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the train came onto it,
causing the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river.
This would be a passenger train with many people aboard. He left
the bridge turned across the river, and hurried across the bridge to the
other side of the river where there was a lever switch he could hold to
operate the lock manually. He would have to hold the lever back firmly
as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train now,
and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to
it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the pressure to keep the
mechanism locked. Many lives depended on this man's strength.
Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack,
he heard a sound that made his blood run cold. "Daddy, where are you?"
His four year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him. His
first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run!" But the train was too
close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time.
The man almost left his lever to run and snatch up his son and carry him
to safety. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever.
Either the people on the train or his little son must die. He took
a moment to make his decision. The train sped safely and swiftly
on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown
mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were they
aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still cling tightly to
the locking lever long after the train had passed. They did not see
him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked: to tell his wife
how their son had brutally died.
Now if you comprehend the emotions
which went this man's heart, you can begin to understand the feelings of
our Father in Heaven when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between
us and eternal life. Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth
to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son died? How does He
feel when we speed along thru life without giving a thought to what was
done for us thru Jesus Christ? When was the last time you thanked
Him for the sacrifice of His Son?
These are questions to think about.
"For God so loved the world... that He gave His only Son
that whoever
believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal
life." John 3:16
Copyright: 1999 CCF Rutgers University-Newark
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