Jerry was a lineman in Bill Getty’s crew, which was under my supervision. Jerry was a good worker and carefully observed all safety precautions. The crew was replacing small electrical wires on a pole line with larger ones.
It was necessary to keep the old wires operating to serve the customers along that road while the new wires were being installed. In order to install the new wires in their proper place on the poles, the old wires had to be raised above the top of the poles. This they did by bolting a cross arm to each pole in an upright position. Then the old wires were attached to another cross arm mounted in a horizontal position. These cross-like arrangements were put together on the ground and then raised to the pole top.
As duty required, I visited the crew and was talking with Bill Getty, the foreman. Jerry picked up one of these heavy arrangements and, putting it on his back, he staggered along pretending to carry the cross as Jesus did. As he did this, he made a disparaging remark about the Lord Jesus.
The following day I was at another location when the company radio announced, “Signal One! Signal One!” It was from Getty’s crew. “Signal One” meant that there was an emergency and all other use of the radio was curtailed to give priority to urgent messages. My immediate thought was: “Something has happened to Jerry.”
As I started driving toward the site where the crew was working, a radio call came for me to go to that location. Sadly, this normally careful worker had made an inattentive move. That move cost him his life, as 2400 volts surged through his heart. He died instantly.
The Lord Jesus died six hours after He carried His cross. Jerry died twenty-four hours after carrying his! Jesus gave His life for our sakes. “I lay down My life for the sheep....I lay down My life, that I might take it again” (John 10:15,1715As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:15)
17Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. (John 10:17)). Jerry’s life was taken from him. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)).