THE BRIDGE
There once was this turntable bridge which spanned a large river. During
most of the day, the bridge sat parallel with the tracks, allowing ships to
pass freely on both sides. But at certain times each day a train would come
along, and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river allowing
the trains to cross. 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 through the
dimming twilight and caught sight of the train's light. He stepped to the
controls and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance when
he was to turn the bridge into position. He turned the bridge, but to his
horror, found that the locking control didn't work. If the bridge was not
locked into position securely, it would wobble back and forth at the
ends when the train came onto it. This would cause the train to jump the
track and go crashing into the river.
This train was 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 he could use to
operate the lock manually. He could hear the rumble of the train now. He took
hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply 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 to close, the tiny legs would make it across
the bridge in time.
The man almost lifted the lever to run and snatch up his son, and carry him
to safety, but he realized he could not get back to the lever in time.
Either the people on the train or his little son must die.
He took just a moment to make his decision. The train sped
swiftly and safely on it's way, and no one aboard was aware of the tiny,
broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the rushing train. Nor
were they aware of the pitiful figure of a sobbing man still clinging
tightly to the lever long after the train had passed. They didn't see him walking
home more slowly than he had ever walked, to tell his wife how he had
sacrificed her son.
Now if you can comprehend the feelings which went through
this man's heart, you can understand the feeling of our Heavenly Father when
he sacrificed his Son to bridge the gap between us and eternal life. How
does He feel when we speed along through life without giving a thought to
what was done for us through his Son, Jesus Christ? Can there be any
wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His
only Son died?
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