There was once a bridge
which spanned a large river. During the day the bridge sat with its
length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks,
allowing ships to pass thru freely. But at certain times each day, a
train would come 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 when
a train crossed.
One evening as the switchman was waiting for the light of the day to
come, he looked off into the distance thru the dim twilight and
caught sight of the trainlights. He stepped to the controls and
waited until the train was within a prescribed distance within the
bridge. He turned the bridge into position, but, to his horror,
found the locking control did not work. If the bridge was not secure
in position, it would wobble back and forth at the ends when the
train came on to 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 bridge to the other side of the river
where there was a lever switch that could hold to operate the lock
manually. He would have to hold the switch back firmly as the train
crossed.
He could hear the rumble of the train now. He took hold of the lever
and kept applying the pressure to keep mechanism locked. Many lives
depended on this man's strength.
Then, coming across the bridge from
the direction of his control room, 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 close; the tiny legs
would never make it across the bridge in time.
He almost left his lever to run and
snatch up his son and carry him but he realized that he would not be
able to get back to the lever in time. Either the people on the
train or his little son must die.
He took a moment to make his decision.
The train sped safely about, 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 clinging tightly to the locking lever long
after the train had passed. They did not see him walk home more
slowly than he had ever walked: to tell his wife how the child 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
allowed 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 as His Son died? How
does He feel when we speed along thru life without any thought to
what was done for us thru Jesus Christ
When was the last time you thanked Him for the sacrifice of His Son?
