The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Pastor Richard Zimmerman First United Lutheran Church This is a mining story, even though it took place long ago (early 1890s) in a place far away (southwestern Colorado). A narrow gauge railway had just been completed to serve the silver belt. This line included many spectacular bridges and trestles that towered hundreds of feet above the canyon floors below. The line was finally finished and it was time for the first run. When the engineer got to the highest of those trestles, he stopped the train, climbed down from the cab and announced that he wasn't about to take the train over that high, spindly bridge. "We won't make it," he said, walking away in disgust. But the president of that railway line was on board. He climbed up into the engineer's seat and said to those standing by: "I know the person who designed and built this bridge. More than that, I trust that he made this bridge strong enough and sturdy enough to support the weight of this train. I'm going to take us across!" And he did. And that first engineer who walked away was soon looking for a new job. This is more than a story about trains and trestles. It's about faith. Let's be clear what faith is not. Faith is not standing at the edge of that trestle and debating whether it can hold the weight of your train. You'll never really know the answer to that unless and until you actually try to go across. Faith means you're willing to trust your life to that bridge and the one who built it. In chapter six of John's Gospel, the crowd asks Jesus, "What exactly does God want us to do?" And Jesus answered, "God wants you to have faith in Me, the One He sent." (John 6:19-20) Our Lord Jesus Christ is always the bridge over troubled waters, and His death for us on the cross and the victory of His Easter empty tomb are the only bridge there is and the only bridge you need between earth and heaven. May the Holy Spirit give you true faith in Jesus and may you walk across life's bridges with your hand in His!
