There was once a bridge
that 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 through 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 the train to cross it.
A switchman sat in a 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 through
the dimming twilight and
caught sight of the train lights.
He stepped onto the control
and waited until the train
was within a prescribed
distance when he was
about to turn 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
cause the train to jump
the track and go
crashing into the river.
This was 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,
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! 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
snatch up his son and carry him to safety.
But he realized that he could not
get back to the lever
in time if he saved his son.
Either many people on the train,
or his own son, must die.
He took but 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 on rushing train.
Nor were they aware of the
pitiful figure of the sobbing man,
still clinging 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 that went through
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 through life without giving
a thought to what was done
for us through Jesus Christ?
Author Unknown
"For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only
begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
For God sent not
His Son into the
world to condemn the world;
but that the world through
Him might be saved."
John 3:16-17
P.S. You are precious in my sight,
and honored, and I love you.
~ Isaiah 43:4 ~
