Building Bridges

On the 21st November in 1964 the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge was completed. It was at the time the longest suspension bridge in the world, with its central span of 4,260 feet, surpassing the Golden Gate bridge by 60 feet. It held this title until 1981 when the Humber Bridge surpassed it by 366 feet. It still has the title of being the 13th longest main span bridge in the world and the longest in the american continent.

The bridge is named after Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano who, in 1524 became the first European to enter New York harbour and the Hudson river.

This bridge is a massive feat of engineering and it took a total of 5 years and 3 months to complete; costing $320 million to build, which equates to $2,446,000,000 today. Many men were involved in the building of the bridge; and 3 lost their lives in the process.

This was a difficult and dangerous build, like Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. They were surrounded by enemies that were angry at them rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and had to arm themselves whilst they were doing the building work. Everyone was involved, from the oldest to the youngest, and every family took responsibility for building a section of the wall. No-one was exempt and everyone played their part. Not only were they building a wall, they were building community.(Read the book of Nehemiah to get more details; its really great).

Working together.

Building bridges between families, generations, social classes, work groups.

It was a great work God was doing.

God is in the business of building communities and building bridges between people.

Like when the deacon Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch  on the road; he heard him reading a portion of Isaiah and explained it to him (Read the full passage here). Philip was building a bridge for the gospel into Africa.

The eunuch took the love of God with him to Africa.

The most important bridge building we see in the Bible is Jesus on the cross; building a bridge between man and God and restoring their broken fellowship, their broken relationship.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-6

At Llandudno Youth for Christ we; like Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem, like the builders of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, like Philip; want to build bridges between people.  Build bridges into communities in Llandudno and beyond.

Building bridges for the gospel.

Taking the love of God into Llandudno and beyond.

To do that we need more volunteers; like Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem, everyone doing their part to see God’s purpose fulfilled in their generation.

If you feel God calling you to be part of all that we do, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

2 replies
  1. Neil
    Neil says:

    The Latin word for priest is Pontifex which literally means Bridge builder. I used to make them out of steel and concrete but now they’re built out of love and trust.

    Reply
    • llandudnoyfc@gmail.com
      llandudnoyfc@gmail.com says:

      Hi Neil, thanks for that. Nice bit of added info for the post. Love the fact that in the Latin name, the purpose of the priest’s role is incorporated: building bridges between people and between man and God.

      Reply

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