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"God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9).

Yesterday I took a bike ride on the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail with several friends. The trail begins in Columbia PA and essentially follows the Susquehanna River 14 miles along an abandoned rail line up to Falmouth PA (locals pronounce it foul mouth).

In the parking area in Columbia there's a great view of the Veteran's Memorial Bridge, a nearly 100 year old bridge as seen in our lead photo. Construction began in 1929 and the bridge opened on September 30, 1930. One wonders how long it would take to build it today. (It would probably take ten years just to do the "environmental impact" studies!)

But the bridge is showing its age and is undergoing a projected 5 year renovation project which includes structural work. An inspection of the bridge in 2023 revealed cracks in the floor beams and columns that support the deck.

We periodically cross the bridge (bike rides included) but the greatest impact on a closure will be on local residents, many who use the bridge daily. We are thankful for safety conscious engineers and the workers who will make the repairs, though it will be a major inconvenience for many, but more importantly, a bridge failure is catastrophic. Many will recall when a bridge over the Mississippi River failed in Minneapolis during the evening rush hour on August 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

Today let us consider a bridge that will never fail. Our most fearful bridge crossing was also over an old bridge but this one is 1200 feet over the Arkansas River in Colorado. It's called the Royal Gorge Bridge. We visited the area about 25 years ago and I really struggled as we crossed it in our rental van since the option was a lot of humiliating back tracking. I suppose by now you realize we did make it across and I noticed on the web this morning that it is still open!

A ministry called the Navigators has a small evangelistic tract titled "The Bridge To Life". It's on the web and we have a link below. As a song made popular by Point of Grace states that it's "a bridge to cross the great divide" between man's sinfulness and God's holiness.

Phil Wickham wrote in his song, "Living Hope", "How great the chasm that lay between us". But the cross of Christ provided an unfailing bridge across that chasm once for all.

This bridge will never fail. It will never need renovations or revisions. "For His death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but His life, He keeps on living for God" (Romans 6:10 Complete Jewish Bible).

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13.



Stephen & Brooksyne Weber