পথ হারা পথিক

There was once a bridge which spanned a large
river. During most of the day the bridge sat with
its length running up and down the river
paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass
thru freely on both sides of the bridge. But at
certain times each day, a train would come along
and the bridge would be turned sideways across
the river, allowing a train to cross it.
A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of
the river where he operated the controls to turn
the bridge and lock it into place as the train
crossed. One evening as the switchman was
waiting for the last train of the day to come, he
looked off into the distance thru the dimming
twilight and caught sight of the trainlights. He
stepped to the control and waited until the train
was within a prescribed distance when he was to
turn the bridge. He turned the bridge into
position, but, to his horror, he found the locking
control did not work. If the bridge was not
securely in position it would wobble back and
forth at the ends when the train came onto it,
causing the train to jump the track and go
crashing into the river. This would be a
passenger train with many people aboard.
He left the bridge turned across the river, and
hurried across the bridge to the other side of the
river where there was a lever switch he could
hold to operate the lock manually. He would have
to hold the lever back firmly as the train crossed.
He could hear the rumble of the train now, and
he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to
apply his weight to it, locking the bridge. He kept
applying the pressure to keep the mechanism
locked. Many lives depended on this man’s
strength.
Then, coming across the bridge from the
direction of his control shack, he heard a sound
that made his blood run cold. “Daddy, where are
you?” His four-year-old son was crossing the
bridge to look for him. His first impulse was to
cry out to the child, “Run! Run!” But the train was
too close; the tiny legs would never make it
across the bridge in time. The man almost left his
lever to run and snatch up his son and carry him
to safety.
But he realized that he could not get back to the
lever. Either the people on the train or his little son
must die. He took a moment to make his
decision. The train sped safely and swiftly on its
way, and no one aboard was even aware of the
tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the
river by the onrushing train. Nor were they
aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still
clinging tightly to the locking lever long after the
train had passed.
They did not see him walking home more slowly
than he had ever walked: to tell his wife how their
son had brutally died.
Now if you comprehend the emotions which
went this man’s heart, you can begin to
understand the feelings of our Father in Heaven
when He sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap
between us and eternal life. Can there be any
wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and
the skies to darken when His Son died? How does
He feel when we speed along thru life without
giving a thought to what was done for us thru
Jesus Christ?