The bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis started me thinking about what makes us fall and what makes us stand firm spiritually. The Bible outlines a way to never fall.
t was about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. Everyone in the city, it seemed, was on the way home from work. Thuy T. Vo wasn't going home from the office; she was a stay-at-home mother. But on this evening she was caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic on an interstate bridge over the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis. She was halfway across the bridge when she heard a loud crack, and saw the bridge before her suddenly fall away.
"When I saw that the bridge before me was collapsing, I thought it was an illusion," she said. She watched as her Mazda van turned straight downward. Then it went over. "Then the cement hit the windshield and I thought I would die right there," she recalled.
As river water filled her van, Vo, who doesn't swim, rolled down a window and somehow paddled away. Her injuries were mostly scrapes.
The nightmare of that moment won't leave her. She had seen five or six cars drop off the bridge in front of her. The image of them plays over and over in her head, just a flash of a few seconds. She didn't know if anyone in those cars survived and added, "I am very lucky" (Monica Davey, "At Bridge Site, Search of River Moves Slowly," The New York Times, Aug. 3, 2007, p. 2).
The eight-lane bridge that collapsed carried an average of 140,000 vehicles a day. It was 1,000 feet long and when it fell, it collapsed in three sections. The center section fell 60 feet into the river. Some estimate that as many as 50 cars went into the river.
The cause of the collapse was unknown at the time of this writing. The bridge was deemed "structurally deficient" in 1990 in part because of some corroded bearings, but it was not scheduled to be replaced until 2020. A deficient designation does not mean a bridge needs to be immediately replaced. According to Dan Dorgan, a bridge engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, 77,000 bridges across the United States have a similar designation (Jon Elsen and Libby Sander, "Dozens Missing as Minneapolis Search Efforts Are Halted," The New York Times, Aug. 2, 2007, p. 1).
There was some construction work going on at the time of the collapse, but it was minor stuff—nothing to do with the structure. Repairs were being made to the bridge's concrete deck, guardrails and lights (Elsen and Sander, p. 4).
As bridges go, this bridge was not very old. It was built in 1967, just 40 years ago. I began coming to church with my family in Minneapolis in 1966. I have been coming to church one year longer than this bridge existed.
Could We Suffer Spiritual Collapse?
Many of us in the Church of God have been coming to church a long time: years and years, decades and decades. Can we suffer a spiritual collapse just as this bridge had a physical collapse? I believe we can, if we don't take steps to prevent it. I believe there are spiritual lessons we can learn from this tragedy in Minneapolis.
Bridges are built to stand. The same is true with Christians. We are to stand firm in the faith. In 1 Corinthians 16:13, Paul tells us, "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong" (emphasis added throughout). We are supposed to stand.
Bridges are not supposed to fall. Neither are Christians. In 2 Peter 3:17, Peter tells us, "You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked." We are not supposed to fall.
What caused the bridge in Minneapolis to fall unexpectedly at 6 p.m. Aug. 1? At the time of this writing, it seems no one knows for sure. But I listened to an interview of a structural engineer who gave two possibilities. And I could see applications to our Christian living.
Two Dangers
Two things make bridges like this one fall.
1. Corrosion. In northern climates, salt is put on roads and bridges to melt snow and ice. Salt is corrosive. It eats away the concrete and rusts away the steel structure.
How does this apply to us? In Matthew 5:13 Jesus tells His true followers, "You are the salt of the earth." In the next verse He says His followers are the light of the world. But in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul warns that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. His followers deceive people. If Satan and his followers represent a bad light, can they also represent bad or harmful salt?
God's truth is good, like table salt. It adds flavor to our life and preserves us. But Satan's deceptions corrode away our character like highway salt left too long on a bridge. False teachings eat away at our inner structure by which we stand firm in the faith. If we embrace false teachings and ideas, the problem starts small but gets worse and worse. We become spiritually weaker until one day we will unexpectedly fall away.
To prevent spiritual corrosion, we should go back to the Bible and to our Church teachings and make sure our current beliefs match the truth we have been taught. Jude tells us to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered (verse 3). When we have been around the Church for 40 years, it's possible to have collected some corrosive salt and not even realize it.
Corrosion probably was not the problem with the bridge in Minneapolis. Corrosion is easy to spot during inspections. The second reason bridges fall is much more dangerous.
2. Fatigue cracking. Every vehicle that rolls over a bridge puts stress on the structure. When it passes, that stress is released. This is called "cyclic loading." Cyclic loading goes on hour after hour, day after day, year after year and can cause very minute cracks to develop slowly in the steel. This is fatigue cracking. The metal gets fatigued and begins to crack. These cracks are harder to spot than corrosion. Some cracks are so small they can't be seen. Engineers use sonar and ultrasound to find them. They pass sound through the steel. If the sound changes, that indicates a miniature crack is in the steel.
Our Christian lives are difficult. We have stress as we go through trial after trial. Christ warned us about this, saying, "In the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33). Paul told Timothy, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). In our years in the Church, we have had some major trials. But year in and year out we have experienced a lot of minor trials, like cars rolling over a bridge. Just standing firm against the pulls of this world can produce minor stress in our lives.
Are we, after years and years of being in God's Church, suffering from spiritual fatigue cracking? Do our problems seem too much to bear? Do we feel like we're wearing out? Are we tired of standing strong for the truth? Paul told the Thessalonians, "But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good" (2 Thessalonians 3:13). He told the Galatians, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart" (Galatians 6:9).
How Can We Stand Strong?
How can we stand strong through trial after trial after trial? The answer is found in two scriptures. One tells us if we do some things, we will stand. The other says if do some things, we will never fall. We don't want to be like that Minneapolis bridge that fell and took a lot of people down with it. We want to stand firm and never fall. So what must we do?
The first scripture is Ephesians 6:10-18. For this discussion on bridges, we don't need the imagery of a suit of armor, although most of this armor is made from steel and we could use the steel to brace up our structure. Instead of focusing on the armor analogy, let's ask ourselves, what is Paul really saying?
In verse 14, Paul says we should be "girded" with the truth. That means to be surrounded by the truth. Be grounded in the truth. Read our Bibles a lot! Read Church literature. Read truth. Study truth. Discuss truth. Love truth.
Also in verse 14, we are told to have "righteousness." What is righteousness? Keeping all of God's commandments (Psalm 119:172)! In other words, we need to know the truth and live the truth!
In verse 15 we are told to know the gospel and be prepared to preach it. We should have the right answer if people ask about the hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15).
In verse 16 we are told to strengthen our faith. Faith comes from hearing and reading God's Word (Romans 10:17).
Is it possible that the "helmet of salvation" in verse 17 refers to keeping salvation on our minds? Should we not keep our thoughts focused on the Kingdom and our future in God's family? And also in this verse we are told to use God's Spirit and God's Word, the Bible. We shouldn't just leave it on the coffee table or in our briefcase between Sabbaths.
In verse 18 we are reminded to pray always and be watchful. Don't let our prayer time slip. And what should we watch? Two things: world events and our spiritual condition.
What happens if we do all these things? Verse 13 tells us: We will stand.
What Can We Do to Never Fall?
Peter tells us: "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall" (2 Peter 1:10, King James Version). What things? "Make your calling and election sure." How?
Verses 5 through 7 give us the formula: "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."
One thing about the bridge collapse in Minneapolis troubles me. The bridge was being worked on when it fell! Work was being done to the road surface, guardrails and lights. Was that bad? No, there was nothing wrong with fixing those things. I'm sure this work needed to be done. But this was all surface work, while deep down, in the structural steel, it seems cracks were developing that would cause it to fall. They did the light repairs that looked good to others but left the weightier matters of structural repair undone.
Christ warned religious people of His day not to do this. The Pharisees were concerned about little things like tithing on mint, anise and cummin. Christ said that was good, but they were neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23).
I hope we don't fall into the same trap. I hope that spiritually we are doing more than just resurfacing our bridge and fixing guardrails and lights. We should not neglect the outward things that show our religion—but we also must look deeper into our lives and our relationship with God to see if we need some structural repairs to keep us from falling, to keep us from becoming weary.
Take time to go back over Ephesians 6 and 2 Peter 1. Study these verses. Meditate on them. Let's put them into practice in our lives.
If we do these things, God promises that we will stand and never fall! UN
