We lived in the Bay Area of Northern California and served at First Baptist Pleasanton, California. We moved there from Missouri and the culture shock was quite substantial, but the sight shock was even more!! Not bad shock, but good shock. We lived where so many of the TV shows and movies we loved were filmed. We would be in San Francisco and would come upon them filming a movie scene and act like a bunch of little kids. It was awesome. And the bridges….Oh the bridges. We would cross the double decker Bay Bridge, go through the city and then exit to the north on the Golden Gate Bridge. Then for the icing on the cake we would look off to the right and there it was, Alcatraz. It was like one new event every day the whole time we lived there,even the earthquakes amazed us….in a scary way.
There was one bridge, beside the Golden Gate, that just floored me every time we drove over it. It was the San Mateo Bridge. This bridge started out relatively level, but all of a sudden it went what felt like “straight up to the sky.” The first time we went on the bridge our whole family held their breath in fear. It was an awesome bridge. One of our youth workers lived in San Mateo and he was working on his house. I told him I would help him and went over to his house to scope it out and of course, travelled on the San Mateo Bridge. By this time, I was an old pro and didn’t even (act) get scared like I was from there or something. We looked over the remodel part of the house and made a decision on how much wood and materials we needed. Neither of us had a truck, so we borrowed one from another church member who owned a concrete finishing business. Our plans were to get the lumber and take it to his house and get to work. He had something come up and asked me to get the lumber and drive it to his house. I agreed and went to the lumber shed, loaded up, and proceeded down the Nimitz Highway to the bay. I noticed the load was really heavy on this truck and the steering was weak, so I took it real easy. I had my son Ty with me and we approached the San Mateo Bridge and I said, “here we go big guy.” We started on the level part and everything was fine, but then we started up the steep slope and that’s when it happened. The front of the truck came off the ground, caused by too much weight on the back. I was steering, but I wasn’t steering! My tires weren’t touching the road and the worst part was we were at the top of the “San Mateo Bridge.” Ty looked at me and I tried to remain calm but we were veering toward the rail. All of a sudden the front end came down and we started down the other side. We breathed a sigh of relief and unloaded the lumber, and that was that. I will never forget it. Going on two wheels up the San Mateo Bridge.
I will have to tell you that for me that’s what doing these blogs is like. Scary territory. I know that our world is not getting any better, and that the Word of God has already been compromised so much it’s almost unbearable to rock the boat (or tip the pickup truck) but it must be done. I say all of that to transition to the next book I will be writing from in this blog. I will be going through 1st and 2nd Peter in the days ahead and we need a bridge like the San Mateo for this transition. Why? Because the great truths Paul wrote to Timothy are pressed on more and more in Peter’s letters. He was in the last decade of his life and it was time for God to use him to deal seriously with things like: heresies of false teachers, the inspiration of Scripture, and the certainty of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Paul was like the San Mateo, moving up from level ground to a new viewpoint in life and Peter is the quick upslope that can scare you if you are scared of heights. Peter in his real way of looking at truth, writes with no holding back. This blog is the bridge or transition to this wonderful, challenging book of the Faith. 1 Peter begins tomorrow. Make sure you are ready and I will do the same. Let’s cross this bridge together, God’s Way.
The Pilgrimage continues….
David Warren