Canyon Diablo Bridge – Arizona

The Bridge Builder

Many years ago, when I was at least 65 years younger, I attended an IBM computer conference. At the end of the last day of the conference, the speaker finished with a poem written by Will Allen Dromgoole, titled “The Bridge Builder.” This poem was first published in 1900 and has been frequently reprinted. The poem continues to be quoted frequently, usually in a religious context or in writings stressing a moral lesson.

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray
To a chasm vast and deep and wide
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The rapids held no fears for him.
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,
“You’re wasting your time in building here.
Your journey will end with the closing day;
You never again will pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide;
Why build you this bridge at even-tide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head.
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There follows after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This stream, which has been as naught to me,
To that fair youth may a pitfall be.
He too must cross in the twilight dim
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

Will Allen Dromgoole

The older I get and the more I study the Scriptures and write Bible lessons the more I think about what I am doing and pray that I am effectively building bridges for those who follow me by making known the greatest bridge builder of all, Jesus Christ the Son of God.

On the back of my business cards is an illustration of Romans 6:23, showing the cross as a bridge going from Death to Eternal Life. On the left of the card are several questions for conversation starters.