Philippians 2:3-4 The Bridge Builder

Nearly 50 years ago I attended an IBM conference to learn the latest about current technology that related to my career. The last speaker closed the conference with the following poem. I requested a copy and have kept it ever since. As you read the poem, look at the picture and as you see the person walking across the bridge, think about the old man who stopped and built the bridge so those who followed him had an easy way to get across. What bridges are you and I building that help people following us cross over into heaven?

The Bridge Builder 

An old man going a lone highway
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and wide and steep,
With waters rolling cold and deep.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here.
Your journey will end with the passing day,
You never again will pass this way.
You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head,
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
The chasm that was as nought to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He too, must cross in the twilight dim –
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

Prayer 

Father, like this old man, I pray I will use my time building bridges so that those who will live after I am gone will have a closer walk with the Lord, a greater understanding of the Word, and a stronger stand in the face of suffering. Father, I pray that daily I will die to self to allow Jesus to live in and through me to build those bridges for others who follow.