The First Line

The First Line:


“In the secret of God's tabernacle no enemy can find us,
and no troubles can reach us.
The pride of man and the strife of tongues find no entrance
into the pavilion of God.
The secret of his presence is a more secure refuge
than a thousand Gibraltars.
I do not mean that no trials come.
They may come in abundance, but they cannot penetrate
into the sanctuary of the soul, and we may dwell in perfect peace
even in the midst of life fiercest storms.”
Hannah Whitall Smith


The First Line:

Many years ago engineers were considering
how to begin building a bridge between
Niagara Falls New York and Niagara Falls Canada.
The huge gorge and rapids between the two was a daunting obstacle.
The engineers tried shooting lines across the ravine time and again
only to find the technology of their day impotent.
They determined that such a crossing might well be impossible to accomplish,
because they could not find a safe way to get a line across the ravine.

Then on his way home one night, one of the engineers happened to see
a small boy in a field leisurely enjoying flying his kite over the great falls.
Instantly the solution presented itself.
Engineers went out and bought a fifty cent kite
and sailed the first line across the great gorge.
They used that fragile line to pass ever increasing sized lines back and forth
until they had the steel cables needed to begin the construction
of the first bridge to cross the gorge.

In the years before World War I,
England and France had been bitter adversaries.
But a voracious learner, an energetic Englishman named Henry Wilson,
became head of the British War College.
Ignoring the prejudice of his times, in 1909,
he attended a lecture by his counterpart, General Foch,
at the military college in France.
Despite the political schism between their two nations,
the two men quickly became fast friends.
When war came in 1914, Wilson headed military operations for England.
By then, his flourishing friendship with Foch had built trust.
And that opened doors for the two countries to sign a mutual protection pact.
Historian Barbara Tuchman called Wilson and Foch’s unlikely rapport
“the first cable for the building of a bridge."

“For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
Psalms 122:8

Who knows the power and potential of your friendships—
in the high calling of our daily work?

As believers we might well take these stories from history to heart.
Many who profess Christ have adopted an isolationist mentality,
choosing to remain separated from those who do not profess the Lord.

It is time for the Church to embrace the example of Jesus,
(who ate and conversed with publicans and sinners,)
and to interface with a lost and dying world
that they might see the love of Jesus
and come to a place of repentance, restoration and life.
Let’s throw the first line, and see what the Holy Spirit will do!

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