Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - The Collapse of a Two-Legged Bridge - #4060

Friday, August 2, 2002

When Mitch visited Honduras, he left a mark no one there will ever forget. We're talking, of course, about Hurricane Mitch, a Category 4 storm that hammered Honduras in November of '98. Whole villages disappeared as dams broke and mudslides buried everything in sight. At least 10,000 people died from Mitch's assault. And then came the battle for the survivors. Food and clothing and medicine and all kinds of emergency supplies poured into Honduras. But there was a problem: most of the infrastructure of the country was destroyed. Roads were gone. Bridges were gone. So, on one side you have starving people; on the other side, there were trucks loaded with what they needed to survive. But without a bridge, how do you get them together?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Collapse of a Two-Legged Bridge."

Our word for today from the Word of God is about life saving. It's from 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 . It's about people who need life and what it takes to get that life to them. The Bible says, "God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation (bringing them together). We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." God says here, you are the carriers of His love and His life to the people around you.

OK, now here's a mental picture. There's a wide chasm. Jesus is on one side. Someone you care about - a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a co-worker - is on the other side. Now, what will it take to get the life-saving Savior and the dying person together? A bridge. The bridge is you - Christ's ambassador to your workplace, your neighborhood, your school. If the bridge is out, they may die without the rescue that was almost in their reach - because of the bridge.

Are the people you influence moving toward Jesus because of you, or are they as far from Him as ever? Is it possible that their bridge to Jesus has collapsed? Sometimes that happens because of busyness, which leads to spiritual neglect, which becomes weeks and months and years - and then an eternity. Or maybe it's fear that keeps the bridge from functioning. But shouldn't the greatest fear be not what a person you love may think of you, but that they may be lost forever?

I'll never forget that day in college when my clock radio woke me up with the morning news. I sat straight up in bed because I heard Sharon's name. Now, Sharon and I had been good friends in school - nothing romantic, but we'd been really good friends all through school. Now the night before I heard this newscast, a young man had walked into the student union at a local university and shot Sharon to death on the spot. Sharon and I had talked about everything - except Jesus. And now, in one violent moment, she had gone into eternity.

I was the bridge, and I collapsed. I can't help but wonder if somewhere in the corridors of eternity, someone we knew on earth won't cry out to us, "Why didn't you tell me?"

For the people around you, there is still time. Jesus is standing with outstretched arms on one side of that chasm. Someone you care about is on the other side, restless for a relationship that will fill the hole in their heart. And all they need is a bridge. And the bridge is you.