BRIDGES: Thoughts on building them

Today I traveled to Sandpoint from Post Falls. I do not listen to the radio, the hour drive allows for solitude and contemplation. I was deep in thought and prayer, you see a young friend of mine was being sentenced at the courthouse. The sentence delivered was fair, friends and family were sad about jail time, but rejoicing that it was a lighter sentence. Until he is free, I will be praying for God working in his life.

I was impressed with this judge. His decision impacted so many people. Both sides of the case, family and friends. It was evident he chose to be careful in his deliberation before discharging his duty.

In pronouncing his decision, he considered everything thoroughly. This decision was not made lightly.

Now heading home, the long drive back freed up my mind to go where it wanted.

Did you know, there are 29 expansion seams in the bridge crossing the lake? You cannot miss them; your car tires make you fully aware of there presence. Also, it takes 6 seconds to pass between each of the expansion seams. That is 174 seconds at the speed limit of 55 miles an hour, that calculates out to 2.9 minutes to cross from one end of the bridge to the other.

When alone, I guess my mind wanders wonderfully, but what if, like my time spent contemplating the intricacies of bridge building, we did the same due diligence, understanding how necessary it is to investigate these intricacies in building bridges in relationships; to carefully hear the cases of others? Maybe my time in court and my time on the bridge had deeper meaning? Maybe the bridge metaphor reveals more, Maybe, to be fair, it is paramount we allow quality time to understand how to build bridges with those we disagree with.

God help us. According to the scriptures, the disagreeable need to be loved.

ROBERT HOLLIDAY

Post Falls