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Bridge out on that road!

Bill D. Hallsted

The rain came down in sheets, driven by gusty winds. Ralph leaned forward, face as close as he could get to the windshield, as though that would somehow help him see. Fortunately, he was going pretty slow or he might have missed the flashing red lights shining through the heavy storm. It took a moment longer to see the patrolman, frantically waving his flashlight.

He pulled up beside the officer, stopped and rolled his window down just enough to hear. “What’s wrong, Officer?” he asked.

“The bridge is washed out three miles up the road,” the patrolman replied. “This is the last side road you can take to get around the washout. The bridge is still okay on Bradford Road, 10 miles north.”

“Thanks, Officer. Nasty night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” the patrolman lamented. “I’m soaked to the skin, even with my rain gear on. But I don’t dare get out of the storm until the road crew gets here with the barricade and the ‘bridge out’ sign. Otherwise, somebody will drive right into the river.”

“Thanks again,” Ralph replied, hurriedly rolling up the window against the driving rain.

“So what do we do now?” Edgar asked from the passenger seat.

“Keep driving,” Ralph replied. “Why?”

“What do you mean, keep driving?” Larry spoke up from the back seat. “The bridge is out.”

“Well, so he says,” Ralph replied. “I don’t see how it can be, though. I’ve crossed that bridge a million times. It always seemed exceptionally solid. Besides, if it was really out, they’d already have the barricades up.”

“They haven’t had time,” Shelly objected from Larry’s side. “You have to believe the patrolman and do what he says.”

“Why?” Ralph insisted.

“Because it’s dumb not to,” Shelly replied.

“If I really believed the cop, then maybe I would,” Ralph said. “But you guys wouldn’t.”

There was a long silence from the back seat. Finally Larry spoke: “What do you mean?”

“It wouldn’t make any difference to you what he said. You’d go ahead and do what you wanted to anyway.”

“We would not!” Larry objected. “That’d be stupid.”

“Do you believe in God?” Ralph asked.

Another long silence followed before Larry said, “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Everything. Do you believe in God?”

“Of course.”

“And you’re both Christians, right?”

“You know we are.”

“But you’re not married.”

“Not yet. We plan to, though.”

“But you’re already living together.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Just like that patrolman, God says that’s a wrong thing to do. He says it won’t work. It won’t accomplish what you want. You want to live together to be sure your marriage will last, that you’re compatible, right?”

“Right. Besides, we don’t want to get married until our jobs are more stable, but we didn’t want to wait that long to be together.”

“God says that’s wrong – but apparently what God says doesn’t matter. You must think He’s just a big liar or too stupid to know what’s good for you or something. You’re doing exactly what He says not to do. But you think I’d be stupid for doing the same thing with that patrolman.”

“Yeah, but there isn’t some bridge out ahead of us!”

“Isn’t there? Do you know what it does to a marriage to live together before you’re married?”

“Makes it stronger, of course.”

“Wrong. Every study that’s been done says it makes it far more difficult to have a good marriage if you live together first. On the other hand, for those who do it God’s way and save sex for marriage, far fewer end in divorce. But that’s just what God says. You guys are a lot smarter than God, so why should you pay any attention to Him?”

“Whoa!” Larry objected. “Where did this sermon come from?”

“It’s been bugging me for a long time. I love you guys. You’ve been my friends for a long time. And it really bothers me for you to pretend you’re Christians but still do all the same things that people who aren’t Christians do. Then, when you start paying the price for it, you’ll run to God and expect Him to bail you out, forgive you and make everything all right. That’s not what it’s supposed to mean to be a Christian.”

“Hey, we’re not the only ones, you know. It’s common practice.”

“I know. It keeps me awake nights, watching people who are supposed to be Christ’s people letting the world or society or their friends tell them what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. If we’re Christians, shouldn’t it be Christ that tells us what’s right and what’s wrong? And if we’re Christians, doesn’t that mean we do what He says?”

Bill D. Hallsted is a freelance writer from Griffith, Ind.

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Last modified December 2, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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