My title might remind you of a childish game we played when life was much simpler and much less complicated.
I actually have seen London’s bridges and they are no longer “down” but “up”. But certainly during the war years there were more than just bridges down. London was bombed to bits.
The story was true in Germany too. We lived there from 1955-58. Zweibrucken, where we were stationed, was decimated and even the building we lived in was constructed of material that had once been the foundations of something else. There was still a lot of mess when we were there…constant reminders that the war was over just ten years prior.
This week, the road in front of my condo was torn up. Asphalt was broken into enormous chunks and lifted into gigantic trucks. For a while we looked like London during the Blitz.
But it was the reconstruction that was amazing. It was a particularly windy, hot day and the dust was flying everywhere. It didn’t stop those men…they shoveled and raked and poured water over everything. It was almost like a baptism.
Finally the asphalt arrived and a complicated machine that looked lke a big beast, walked its way down the street, leaving a lovely black surface in its wake.
But this was not the end. Hours of work still entailed as machines drove over and over again, this new piece of asphalt. Then finally, the machines were loaded up and the new road was ready to use.
I think God sees us as an old road that needs deep repair. Sometimes he has to break off all the old stuff that has lost its use. Then, the process of reclaiming what is left…the gravel of our lives, needs to be raked and shaped. This is often as hard as the first breaking of our spirits. But then there is a baptism as he pours his love over us begging us to have faith, faith that his purpose is for good. And finally, like a machine he brings promise to our lives, covering us with a new life, a life that is eternal. But, the blessings do not cease. New friends, new challenges, new opportunities roll over us and shape us.
We are a new road…one others can see and use and perhaps find God along the way. We become part of the journey of others and His love will continue to mould us into whatever His will is for our lives.
