AGWM News

Shaky Bridges

When I lived as a young boy on the mission field in Bolivia, South America, we often traveled around the country. Many roads back then had no bridges and we had to ford the rivers in our Dodge Power Wagon. Other roads had bridges, some good and some not-so-good.

We were driving across the highlands near La Paz one day and came upon a bridge built decades earlier for llamas. The wooden planks that made up the roadway were held together by old ropes that stretched across the 100-foot-wide suspension bridge.

Dad made us all get out and wait on solid ground as he slowly started out over the river. We held our breaths. Would the old bridge hold a five-ton Power Wagon? Or would the ropes or planks break and Dad and the truck crash down to the river below? As he made his way across the bridge the wooden planks rose like a wave in front of him like a mini parting of the Red Sea.

In life we sometimes come to those types of bridges. We drive merrily along and suddenly come to a bridge that looks ready to collapse on us, like the bridge at Universal Studies that comes apart with the press of a button. We are not sure if we can make it across. Financial difficulties. Marriage problems. Health issues. Life that happens to all of us.

When I was a boy we often quoted Psalm 91 in family worship. I have often repeated the words of this chapter in my mind and sometimes out loud, both in good times and bad. The whole Psalm is good, but I especially like verses 11-12 which read: He will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

We made it across the old suspension bridge okay that day. I’m sure our guardian angels were lifting up that old structure as the Power Wagon crossed.

As you and I cross our shaky bridges, we can depend on the Lord to get us over to the other side so we can continue our exciting journey through life.