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One day, Mr. Griffin was
showing his young son, Jeremy, how he operated the
bridge across the river. Suddenly, as they were down
by the large gears that lifted the bridge, Mr.
Griffin received a call. A voice said, "Quick, Mr.
Griffin, an unscheduled train is coming with over
500 people on board. It's going 100 kilometers per
hour. Put the bridge down quickly."
Mr. Griffin turned to his son
and said, "Jeremy, you stand right here on this
platform. Your daddy is going up to the control
tower to lower the bridge so that the train can pass
over. Then I will come back and show you around some
more." "Sure daddy,"' said Jeremy excitedly, "go
ahead. I'll wait for you right here." So Mr. Griffin
made the 50-foot climb up to the control tower.
When Mr. Griffin reached the
control tower, he turned around and, to his horror,
he saw Jeremy climbing in among the huge gears in
the engine room. It would take at least 5 minutes
for Mr. Griffin to climb down to the gears, pull his
son out, and get back up to the control tower. Five
minutes . . . but the train would be passing through
in less than three minutes at 100 kilometers an hour
- and with more than 500 people on board. Mr.
Griffin had to make a decision . . .
Either he would push the lever
down, sacrifice his son's life, and allow the train
to whisk across the bridge, or else he would save
his son's life, leave the bridge up and watch the
train smash into the bridge and see over 500
passengers plummet to their death.
`Mr. Griffin made his decision.
He put his hand to the lever, pushed it down, and
with pounding heart he watched as the wheels began
to turn. His son was drawn in and crushed to death
just seconds before the train came hurtling around
the bend and dashed across the bridge.
As the train crossed over the
bridge, not one passenger had any idea that Mr.
Griffin was pounding on the window of the control
tower crying . . . "People, people, people, don't
you know what I have done so that you might live?"'
But the people sat comfortably
in their seats, reading their newspapers and gazing
at the scenery, oblivious of the great sacrifice
that had just been made for them that day.
This is a horrifying story
indeed, and yet today so many of us can be likened
to the passengers on that train. We have become so
absorbed with life that we have all but forgotten
the big decision that God once made for you and I -
when He decided to offer His Son as a voluntary
sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins.
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