Picture yourself hanging out over the water, hundreds of feet up. You’re working to get heavy steel beams in place, welding, riveting, stringing cables, building a bridge. You’re swaying back and forth in the wind, trying to hold on with one hand and get something done with the other. A bank of fog rolls in, coating all the surfaces with water droplets. Wouldn’t it give you security to know that a strong net was hanging underneath you?
It was in June of 1936, and work had been going on for more than three years on the “unbuildable super-bridge.” Across the mouth of San Francisco Bay for ten years city officials had argued the need of such a bridge, its cost and design, and if it was even possible to build a bridge that would stand up to the ocean currents and high winds at that mile-wide “Golden Gate.” Finally, they had awarded the job to Joseph Strauss, who’d promised to build the bridge for around $30,000,000. It would take a little over four years to complete.
Mr. Strauss is called the builder of the Golden Gate Bridge, but the striking design and complex plans for the final bridge were actually done by others. Three years into its construction, the project had set some records for its time: The two towers, at 746 feet tall, were the tallest bridge towers ever built. Its suspension cables were the longest used. More important to our story, no lives had been lost during its construction: injuries and close calls, yes, but no deaths so far. Why was this considered such a surprise?
“A man’s life wasn’t worth a nickel,” recalled Lefty, a bridge worker. “They figured one life for every million dollars on any job, no matter what type of work it was.”
There were many men needing work, and no laws yet about job safety, so contractors tried to save money by doing without basic safety equipment. It seemed there was always another man to replace any lost during the day.
How does God feel about the value of a human soul? He says, “The redemption [price] of their soul is precious” (Psa. 49:88(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) (Psalm 49:8)), and asks, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)). God loves you. He values your soul much more than you will ever know. Life isn’t just a random accident. You were created in the image of God and have a special purpose here on earth.
In June of 1936 Strauss ordered an enormous movable safety net installed underneath where the men were working, high up on the span. This was the first time such a net had been used for bridge work. Maybe Mr. Strauss didn’t want to be remembered as the man whose project was built at the terrible cost of human lives. The net was an expensive but worthwhile investment for Strauss. It would allow his men to move more quickly and confidently on the job. If anyone slipped, they would land unhurt in the woven rope mesh, much like a jump onto a trampoline.
And men did fall into the net, nineteen in all, and were saved from certain death. Instead of thanking God for saving their lives, they formed the “Halfway to Hell Club,” mocking the judgment they must have known they’d avoided that time.
Wake up! If you are spared in an accident, think about the One who holds your very breath in His hands. We hear onlookers say after a near tragedy, “Someone was watching out for them.” That Someone is God Himself. Don’t let your friends be like these men who fell from the bridge, laughing at their brush with death.
Hell is a dark and lonely place, a place of endless thirst. When Jesus suffered on the cross for your sins, He thirsted. There were three hours of darkness, when the sun was hidden while the Lord Jesus bore the penalty for our guilt. He was alone. Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Always He was sinless and holy, but God had to turn away from Him while He bore our sins.
Don’t turn your back on such love! You will have to leave this world someday, and you don’t know when that will be. Eleven workers did perish in tragic accidents during the last, busy months of work on the Golden Gate Bridge. God only knows where their souls are now.
Where you go when you die will be decided by what you do with Jesus. You probably won’t fall off a bridge, but there are lots of other kinds of accidents that just as suddenly will send people of all ages into eternity today. Don’t put off this decision any longer; take Jesus as your Savior now! “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)).