Bridge Down, People!!

I Peter 2:5 -- "you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

As an MK [or missionary kid], there is a collection of several experiences accumulated over long miles, foreign lands, and a variety of primary schools. Some of these moments can be called wonderful, while others can only be described as memorable, at best. 

One experience at a school I attended in my teens fits well into the memorable category, though there are times when I wish the memories made there weren't so keen. When I think of life lessons dotting the time line while at this school, I see miles of smoldering, smoking bridges that leave a stale burnt smell in a stagnate air. I can count the friendships lost and some tragic events that, to this day, leave my puzzler quite sore. It's never fun when one can look back at early teen-hood and count so many burnt bridges along a very bumpy route.

An awkward teen occasionally, there were times when I just did not handle a situation in a very mature fashion. One such time was when a would-be suitor asked me out and I fumbled my way through a terrible "no, but thank you." So terrible at turning this poor guy down was I, that he became so angry at me he started a rumor that I was a tease and that I slept around. Let me just say, that while every school I attended could not be called a Christian one, NO school I attended looked kindly on floozies. Thanks to a terrible and misunderstood single moment, the remainder of my time at this particular educational institution was a nightmare. Burnt bridges lay in decaying piles by the way-side and it wasn't until I had graduated from high school and returned to the U.S. that I learned what really happened during that year - and how far reaching the collateral damage. I wanted to pick up a mega-phone and holler in emergency, "bridge down, people! Clear the way for clean up!"

The thing is, no one - and I mean NO one, ever once tried to ask me what really happened between me and so-'n-so. All they had to do was check to see if the sordid story spun about yours truly, was indeed, accurate.   

It never happened. The rest of my time at the school was lonely and miserable.

Ever burn a bridge before really checking it out, first? I'll never forget how terrible that feels and yet, I found myself doing this very thing recently. I leaped head-long into a prickly situation, guns blazing and hackles raised only to realize the details weren't exactly what at first they had appeared. I feel horrible. The other party involved feels horrible and there is no way to pick up the warm embers of a burnt bridge and make them usable again. No - in a burnt bridge scenario, the entire bridge must be rebuilt with brand new, stable and sturdy material that has never been compromised by raging temperatures. This can only happen with real forgiveness - and in this case, time will only tell if forgiveness is on the table.

Billy Graham once said of a friend that it seemed like the days of Job had come crashing down on him. The man lost his job, all of his nest egg and financial stability, his house, and just about everything else. This broken man happen to walk through a construction area at a huge local church. He looked up at the building that seemed in pretty good repair when he noticed one of the workers chiseling a way at a piece of stone. The shape of this stone intrigued the broken man so he asked the worker, "what are you going to do with THAT piece?"

The worker looked up, squinted into the sun and pointed his finger at a space between some of the masonry on the church. It left an odd triangular shaped gap. The worker then said, "you see that gap up there? I'm chiseling this stone down here so I can put it in up there."

Sometimes, I guess - it really IS that simple. Whether it be a burnt bridge or a church in need of repair  - sometimes the stone has to be chiseled in order to match the shape for which it is intended. We ache as living stones that require chiseling. It's more than uncomfortable at times, in fact, often it's just downright painful. But there will come a time when we living stones match the space reserved for us in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ. On that day there will be no more burnt bridges and no more need for repair.