Deliberations 2016(11): Halfway to Hell?

The Golden Gate Bridge is a familiar landmark – even to persons who have never visited it. Stretching 2400 feet from end to end, it spans the narrow, turbulent passage where San Francisco meets the Pacific Ocean. The weather conditions in the area are challenging – strong winds, chilly temperatures, dense fog, tumultuous tides, and earthquake risks. It took a clever engineer (Charles Ellis) and a relentless promoter (Joseph Strauss) to build the bridge—along with many unskilled men from all walks of life.

During construction (1933-1937), Strauss insisted on the use of rigorous safety precautions, including newly developed industrial hard hats, glare-free goggles, and special diets to help fight dizziness. The most conspicuous precaution was the safety net, suspended under the floor of the bridge from end to end.

This net saved the lives of 19 men who became known as the “Halfway-to-Hell Club”, because it was said that they had only fallen halfway to hell!  Unfortunately, 11 others lost their lives when a section of scaffold fell through the net. The industry norm at the time was that 1 man would die for every million dollars spent. At a cost of $27 million dollars then, ($1.5 billion now), the safety net was indeed instrumental in saving lives. 

As co-laborers with Christ, we get to build the bridge that will connect us to heaven. Jesus is our safety net – “He is able to keep you from falling” (Jude 24). But what if we do fall? What if we make a mistake? If we fall, if we sin, we have an advocate (Jesus Christ Himself), who will plead for us before His Father – 1 John 2:1.

Let us not be fearful…. Let us work with Jesus in redirecting persons from being halfway to hell to being on the pathway to heaven…….

                                    (Adapted and shared from a Doug Batchelor Amazing Facts sermon)

Deliberations 2016(10): Meekness

(This post was suggested from Richard W. O’Ffill’s The Fruit of the Spirit, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2009, p. 88):

“There’s a story of two ducks and a frog that lived happily together in a farm pond. However, when the hot summer days came, the pond began to dry up, and it was clear that they would have to move. 

This was no problem for the ducks, who could fly to another pond. But the frog couldn’t move away as easily. So the frog got a stick and suggested that each duck grab an end in its bill, and he would hang on to the middle with his mouth as they flew to another pond.

The plan worked well, so well in fact that as they were flying along, the farmer looked up in admiration and said, “Well isn’t that a clever idea! I wonder who thought of that?” Whereupon the frog puffed himself up, beat his chest and spoke his last words: “I did!”

The story reminds us of the text, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). In our hearts, in our homes and in the church, we need to remind ourselves often of the words of our Lord, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” (Matt. 11:29)

According to O’Ffill “Meekness is not doing, or saying, Meekness is BEING”.

For me that decodes meekness as the essence of who we are.

Are we truly meek – calmly and humbly submitting to God’s will and leading in our lives? Or do we run ahead of Him, and kick and scream against what He wants us to do? I wonder how we would really line up on a meekness scale, which would go from 1—puffed up as a peacock, to 10—submissive as a lamb? I wonder if anyone would score a perfect 10…..