New Beginnings Church

This blog entry has been delayed, partially because I have looked (unsuccessfully) everywhere for a photo of the bridge I want to present here.  When I lived in Iowa and visited my parents in Missouri, the way was from Des Moines to Kansas City on US Hiway 69.  In northern Missouri, rural and following hills and rivers, old Hiway 69 was two lanes with curbs!  In today’s safety considerations it was already dangerous.  But then, in a gradual curve, a 2 lane bridge was encountered which was narrow, with no room for pulling over.  The concrete bridge rails were so high that it was impossible to see oncoming traffic from either direction as you entered the bridge.  On more than one occasion I was passed by an oncoming traffic, sometimes even large trucks, which I had no chance to see to prepare for the close encounter!  I once saw a news article in the Des Moines Register, which identified the ‘killer bridge’; I agreed.

I recall entering that bridge in good weather and driving rain.  One trip especially during a night rainstorm was when an 18-wheeler suddenly visible was coming toward me at 70 mph.  With no warning, he was on me and I had to tuck my car (and family) between the truck on the outside, and the bridge rail of the inside. There was only time for the first two words of a Prayer, “Oh Lord…”  and it was over…

Life is like that – sometimes the comparison would take your breath away.  When you graduate from high school and leave home for college, only the Lord knows what is ahead.  Your only certainty is that many blind curves lie ahead.  When you get married, everyone at the ceremony realizes how different life will be, and the many decisions you face and how life will change.  When children come along, most parents are finally aware of life’s uncertainties, and in words I am using here, blind curves which lie ahead.

God is faithful, and His promise is to never leave us.  He is there when we don’t know where to turn.  And He is still there when an unexpected turn of events causes us to admit that we must trust Him.  We have no idea how it will turn out, but God is with us, and we can place our trust in Him.  Back to my blind, curving bridge at night in the rain, for a split second I only had to say, “Oh Lord, protect us.  Keep me on my side of this wet highway, and keep that truck on his side, even though both sides are narrow and wet.  Keep me steady, and focused.  Thank you, Lord.”  And then the prayer, which has taken me thirty-five years to realize the need to say, “Thank you, Lord, for just being there!”  Because as you can plainly see, I did not have the time to complete the prayer.  In His promise, our Savior completed my prayer to God the Father, and now I say Thank You,

In Jesus’ Name!