A FATHER'S SACRIFICE

(SHALL WE CALL THIS A "RIPLEY'S" BELIEVE IT OR NOT?)


HOW EVER WE LOOK AT THESE STORIES THEY REMIND US OF OUR ALMIGHTY FATHER GOD WHO SACRIFICED HIS SON FOR SINNERS LIKE MYSELF!

Bridge of Life - a true story.

John Griffeth lived in the western part of the United States [Oklahoma, according to some versions] during the depression years of dustbowls, dryness and drought. Married in 1929, the Griffeths watched their farming dreams blow into dust. Finally, they gathered their little son with their meager belongings and moved east.

There John landed a job at the Mississippi River tending a drawbridge. One summer day [April 5 in one version] in 1937, he took his son to spend the day with him. Wide-eyed and full of questions, Greg watched his father as he raised the bridge to let the ships pass, then lowered it for the great trains to roar across the river.

About noon, John put up the bridge and sat with Greg on an observation platform to eat their lunches. They enjoyed the activity on the waterfront. John dreamed about traveling so he told Greg stories about the ships and where they were headed. He was so caught up in the stories that he lost consciousness of time. Suddenly he was awakened by the shrill whistle of a locomotive. He glanced at his watch, noting that it was nearly time for the Memphis Express.

John made his way to the gear-room, sat on the stool and took the lever in hand. He looked up the river and back down to see if any ships were coming. Then he glanced below ... Wait! No! No! This can't be! Terror gripped him as his heart leaped into his throat and his blood froze in his veins! Evidently, Greg tried to follow his father, slipped off the catwalk and fell into the massive gears below. His leg was caught and as sure as the sun rises in the morning, if the bridge was lowered six tons of revolving metal would grind him to death!

Mind spinning, John frantically sought for answers! He thought, "I'll run back, tie a rope, let myself down..." -- but, no! There was not a third of the needed time.

John moaned! He was trembling and perspiring as his eyes brimmed with tears. The shrill cry of the train whistle was alarmingly close. More than anything, he wanted to spare his son; but if he did many would die! There was no other way to spare their lives! Stricken and overwhelmed with grief, John bowed his quivering head, covered his eyes, and released the lever. The gear room shook as the wheels turned and the great bridge settled down into place. In moments it was over and the Memphis Express came roaring past.

John lifted his head and looked in the train. There a man read the morning news, the conductor was looking at his watch, and a woman in the dining car was feeding her little girl with a long spoon. No one noticed the heart-broken Griffeth. No one was aware of the grieving father or the newly torn body of his dear son. Choking with passion John called out, "What's the matter with you people? I just GAVE MY SON for you! Don't you even care?" Nobody heard; nobody looked; nobody knew and no one responded as the train disappeared across the river.

The heavenly Father watches our own eternity-bound generation as we speed down the rails of life. Without Jesus we too are hopeless and headed for destruction. Our sovereign God "sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). What an amazing sacrifice as God "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32).

Friend, do you sometimes wonder if God loves you? God's good news to man is this: that question has been settled forever! He points you to "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10). God very definitely established the fact of His love! "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Do you understand, my friend? It required the life of the Son of God to save us! We would hopelessly smash right into eternal destruction without the blood of Jesus! "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Rom. 5:9).

Sixty years ago, John Griffeth's heart was broken by pain and tragedy! He gave his son to save 400 lives. 2,000 years ago, God gave His own Son to spare millions! "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Heb. 9:28). We may ask, why not "all"? Many attempt to cross that river-of-no-return while rejecting the sufficiency of God's precious Son! Proudly refusing the Son is to say to the Father, "He's not good enough for me!" Why cling to sin rather than allowing the Lord Jesus to bear it? These reject "him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood" (Rev. 1:5). Didn't Jesus warn that the majority will end in the rubble of destruction and few will cross to the wonder of eternal life! (Matt. 7:13-14).

I wonder, friend, are you perhaps as the man totally intent with the news down here - or as the lady with the long spoon oblivious to the danger? Knowing of the sacrifice, will you ignore the crucified Son? We must not insult the One who gave His all! Today we travel the rails of life and the assurance for a safe arrival is free, but the cost is infinite! Jesus paid for our passage through the "sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26). God is so concerned about saving you from the ruins of hell that He gave His "own blood" (Acts 20:28). As Griffeth brokenly cried, "Don't you even care?"

Would you be willing to sit on that train, trusting your own activity to save you apart from the son, or would you confess the son paid it all? Life was not granted because the man paid for his newspaper instead of stealing it that day. Obeying commandments and human acts of love never saved any one. We all fail! Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Will you cross that bridge from death unto life? We must never depend upon good works or church ceremonies to escape condemnation. Trust the Lord alone!


Source - Rev. Chuck Brocka, originally derived from a sermon by Dr. D. James Kennedy; Holwick Illustration #152












The Father's Decision

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the church's preacher once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief introduction of his childhood friend. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to speak, "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast-approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean."

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. He continued, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life.... to which boy he would throw the other end of the line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves.

As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw the line to his son's friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered."

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man's mouth.

"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son. How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us." With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see ... I was the son's friend."

Source - submitted by Rev. Dick Lewis; Holwick Illustration #15694
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The Snopes website has an article by Barbara Mikkelson that focuses on a variation of the first story (see http://www.snopes.com/glurge/drawbrid.htm). She says the tale originated as "To Sacrifice a Son: An Allegory," a short story written by Dennis E. Hensley and first published in the Michigan Baptist Bulletin in 1967. It is meant to be a story and not a real-life account. However, her version reads more like an allegory and does not have the detail this one does. Is Hensley's story an adaptation of a real event? I thank Al Kolff for bringing the link to my attention. [1/30/2003]


On November 17, 2003, I received this email from Jim & Kathleen Mancuso:

The supposed purpose of this horrific, sensationalistic story is to draw an analogy to God's sacrifice of His Son for us.

Wrong! Christ's death on the cross was voluntary. Plus, the story is so horrifying, that I believe it achieves the opposite of the preacher's intended purpose; rather than thinking about the gift of salvation, my mind is filled with the terrifying, gruesome images that the story excites and the thought, "What choice would I have made?" Of course, nowadays, my mind just seethes that the preacher chose this lazy, cheap attempt at shock analogy.

And let's think about the young children hearing this devastating story. If such a story was on the evening news I would turn it off to keep my young children from being disturbed by it. This is big time nightmare material here! But, the first time my then 9-year-old son was treated to this grisly tidbit, we had no choice but to suffer through it. He found it very disturbing and talked for days about the little boy being crushed to death at the hands of his own father. My son tried and tried to work it out in his mind so that the little boy and the passengers were both saved. ("Maybe the dad could have run really fast to save his little boy!")

Together, we can rid our pulpits of this cheap, tawdry, grisly illustration, worthy only of the worst supermarket tabloid or Guidepost magazine. Spread the word: It's time to lower the boom on "The Drawbridge Story".

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Kathleen Mancuso later added this comment by a railroad buff:

As a railroad story, it is very unlikely to be true as, by 1937 (and long before), every drawbridge (and the trains using them) would have been protected by signals that would stop the train if the bridge was not down and locked. Such signals would have included a distant signal warning the train to approach slowly ("under control"), and then a final signal telling the train to stop. From the railroad's point of view, signaling was designed to err on the side of safety for the train. There could be any number of reasons why a drawbridge might be up when a train approached it (mechanical failure, operator error, etc.).

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On September 19, 2005, I received this email from Joyce Wilkinson:


Subject: Sacrificed Son's

Pastor Holwick,
I just stumbled across your web page and was reading the Sacrificed Son's. I had heard the train one before and just yesterday in Sunday school I heard the one about the father, son and son's friend on the boat. First, I never gave it a thought that either of these stories were true or not but took them for the illustration they represented. Second, I would have to disagree with Mr. and Mrs. Mancuso. I agree, I am biased, but my son was saved at 8 due to the train story. It touched his heart and made him think in basic terms what God did for him. You see, while yes, Christ did give Himself freely, God was still in control and still had to make this sacrifice. My son is now 13 and just the other day, while picking him up from school, he briefly stopped by my car before going in to retrieve his book bag and as he was walking away, I felt this over powering love for my son and all of a sudden it hit me what God did for us and I began to cry and ask God, "How could you do it? How could you allow your Son to die?" and then all I could do is cry more and say thank you several times. (I am sure I looked real cute sitting in a school yard crying).

Yes, the train story is hard to picture because it paints a very graphic picture.........now, I want these same people to picture ALL that Christ went through before he was even crucified. Picture it in their minds, in their hearts. Too many times we sugar coat the crucifixion of Christ.

I speak only for myself and my few acquaintances, but these stories make me stop and think and too many times we don't stop and think. The point is, the validity of the story is not the issue....the message inside is.

Thank you for your time and God bless,

Joyce Wilkinson

Holwick - I would not want to say "the validity of the story is not the issue;" rather I would say that even a fictional story can make a powerful spiritual point. It is interesting how the issue of "the end justifies the means" keeps coming up regarding stories in sermons!

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On September 5, 2006, I received this email from Gordon Smallwood (no return address or location given):

The story of the drawbridge I heard the first time on a Christian radio station while driving to work. It so impressed me that I told several of my friends in church. Well one man piped up and said I know the man who wrote the story, he goes to our church and is here. Well that was about 5 years back and the man has moved. But he did come over and told the story again.



There is more to that story than is reported. A runaway stayed at the Drawbridge keeper's house and heard the mother of the 10-year-old boy describe what happened to their boy. It so upset the runaway that he hated that father.

Now advance several years, the runaway is a man in prison, and tells the prison chaplain of that incident. The chaplain told that man to write the story down, which he did. Sometime later that man gave his heart to the Lord and has been a Christian for many years.

So let the skeptics say what they will, I believe that story actually happened. Maybe the signals hadn't been put in yet for this bridge, or the man forgot, or the year is a bit off. Makes no difference to me, this person told the same story as the radio broadcast and in finer details.