We are all familiar with the bridges that cars drive over, and perhaps we’ve used a pedestrian bridge, but have you ever heard of a bridge built just for animals?
The Cascade Mountains in Washington State are a long mountain range with many high and jagged mountains, as well as stunning waterfalls. Because the Cascade Mountains are so rugged, very few people live in them, but they are full of wildlife such as bear, elk, deer, mountain lion, bobcat and many other types of wild animals. Some of these animals like to migrate in the summer months high up into the mountain peaks looking for food, and then they return to the lowlands in the winter.
The problem with this is that a wide highway with many lanes called Interstate 90 was built slicing across these migratory paths. This road acts like a barrier keeping animals from where they would like to go. Over the years there have been countless accidents where animals have been hit by speeding vehicles. Often, not only the animals have been killed or injured, but also the drivers and passengers. A high fence was built along both sides of the highway, but the fence didn’t keep the animals away. They found ways to jump over or go under the fences.
A Clever Solution
Something else had to be done. One solution experts came up with was to build a very large wildlife bridge over the well-travelled interstate highway. By walking over the bridge, animals could safely cross to the other side.
The bridge they built is called the Snoqualmie Wildlife Bridge and is as wide as a four-lane highway, but instead of being covered with concrete or asphalt, it is covered with dirt, rock and trees, just like the surrounding area. Engineers added extra sound proofing so animals wouldn’t be spooked by the loud noises of trucks and cars passing beneath it.
Does the bridge work? Yes, video camcorders installed on the bridge have captured countless images of elk, bears, bobcats and cougars passing over it. They have even installed infra-red camcorders to record animals crossing it at night. Videos of animals passing over the bridge can be seen by the public on the Internet. Many animals have been saved, and many accidents avoided.
Did the bridge prevent every animal from jumping the fence and being hit by cars? Sadly, no, but it really has cut down on the number of accidents in the area.
Another Bridge
I would like to tell you about another bridge. This bridge has the ability to save the lives of everyone who uses it. The Snoqualmie Wildlife Bridge cost over six million dollars to build, but this bridge cost far more. It cost the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Two thousand years ago Christ came to this earth and laid down His life so sinners could have a way to go to heaven. God in His incredible love for humankind was willing to pay the supreme price for them.
A need existed for the Snoqualmie Wildlife Bridge. A far greater need existed for Christ to come into the world. We have all been born into a world full of sin — disobedience to the God who made us.
Sin may seem to us like our natural habitat. It may seem like we were meant to live in sin until the day we die. But this isn’t true. God wants us to leave our sins behind and come to Christ. In fact, a verse in the Bible reads, “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:3030And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30)).
In the Lord Jesus, sinners can find the forgiveness of sins, and a new life so that they can genuinely start living for God. We were intended to love and honor God. Until we come to Christ, our hearts will be forever restless, always seeking that missing something that will make us happy, but never finding it.
It may seem like many people are content to live in sin until the day they die. But deep down inside us something is always telling us sin is wrong. That is why there is so much unrest, uneasiness and searching in this world of ours.
Those who remain in their sins are heading to certain judgment. If they continue in the direction they are headed, they will one day stand before the great white throne and hear the dreadful sentence of a misspent life. All will face a result like this: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:4141Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)).
Sin, which so many people feel acclimated to, has a price tag attached to it, and what a price tag it is — everlasting fire.
Animals jumping the fence and running across I-90 run the risk of being hit and killed by fast moving cars. Every day of their lives, sinners run the risk of dying and passing out of this world into a lost eternity. Is that a risk you want to take?
God doesn’t want us to go on living separated from Him. He wants us to cross over from our sinful life to a new life in Him. He wants us to start living righteously through faith in Christ. He is willing to help every person who calls out to Him. He has never once failed to answer a prayer of faith.
So that you could leave your sins behind, Christ gave His life at Calvary. Millions and millions of people have come to Christ and are now with Him. You too may have the hope of joining their company if you come to Christ. But apart from the One who died at Calvary, you don’t have a shred of hope.
It was a wise thing to build the wildlife bridge at Snoqualmie to prevent accidents. God in His incredible wisdom sent His Son into the world so that people could be saved through Him. The suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is like a bridge because through it people can leave their sins behind and start on their way to heaven. Will you come to the Lord Jesus to be saved? The Lord Jesus said, “Him that come[s] to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Not just a few, but all can be saved as the next story shows.