The Half-Way to Hell Club

Construction on the Golden Gate Bridge began during the height of the Great Depression in 1933.  Workers were paid between 4$ to11$ per day, quite a sum at a time when 1 in 4 men were unemployed.  Because the jobs were so desirable, men from every walk of life were suddenly claiming to be professional iron workers.  These overnight iron workers could not clock in to work until they had reached their job site, even if it were on the top of one of the 740 foot towers.  The conditions were highly dangerous, as the fog drifting in continuously from the bay coated the cables and catwalks in a sheet of ice.  Additionally, tremendous gusts of wind were a constant threat to blow an unsuspecting man to his death in the frigid waters below.  These cab drivers and farmers turned professional iron workers needed nerves of steel simply to reach their perch, much less perform their jobs. Because of the real and ever present threat of death, work proceeded haltingly.

In 1936, following many delays, Joseph Strauss invested over 130,000 dollars on a unique safety device, a net suspended beneath the bridge measuring 10 feet wider than the bridge.  .

It gave workers an abiding sense of security as they moved more freely -- and quickly -- across the slippery, half-constructed steel. "There's no doubt the work went faster because of the net," said Lefty Underkoffler, a Golden Gate bridgeman.  Following the installation of the safety net, the construction of the bridge progressed rapidly.  19 men lost their footing or were blown off the bridge by the wind and landed safely in the net, thereby cheating certain death...These men called themselves The Halfway To Hell Club.

Growing up in the church, I struggled mightily with fear and guilt.   I loved the sound of my Pastors voice.  I loved the robes on the choir and the hymns we sang.  I loved my knowledge of our old church, its hidden nooks and crannies. I loved the sleepovers and potlucks. I loved sitting on wooden pews next to my mother as sunshine filtered through the stained glass window of our small sanctuary.  I was the first to raise my hand during Sunday School.  The older people would joke to my mom that I was going to be a preacher one day.  But as I  listened to the stories of a God who loved me and desired that I love Him,  I found myself afraid that He might not find me so lovable. Therefore, I  set my mind on becoming more lovable.  I would try harder to be good.  I would do my best.  But I could never meet the standard I had set. I could never  feel secure that I had been good enough  to say that NOW He loved me.  And when I would fall short, when I had failed yet again, I was stricken with guilt. And that's how I spent my young life, striving to be better, failing, and then letting guilt drive me.  Eventually, as I got into high school, I stopped thinking so much about it.  I still went to church, but the experience was not as rich.  For the most part, I practiced good behaviors, but that was simply a product of my upbringing, not in response to Gods love for me.  I entered college, and freed from my parents Sunday morning wakeups, I disappeared from church.

Years later, when I was 24 years old, I was having a conversation with a friend who was involved in ministry. I was sharing some of my religious experiences with him when he stopped me and said, " You know, Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation for those of  us who claim the name of Christ.."...I laughed and told him that I knew that, of course I did.  But after the conversation was over, I could not shake the feeling that something important had just occurred.  The words stayed with me, "no condemnation"...Could that be true?!

Years later, I can now say emphatically that it is indeed true.  " There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1.  This has become the verse that has provided me with an abiding sense of security, allowing me to move more freely as a believer.  All the work, everything I needed to become more lovable was accomplished upon the cross.  I became lovable because I was loved, loved enough that Christ took my sins upon Himself and declared " It Is Finished!".  With the knowledge that if I fall he catches me, I am motivated not to abuse my freedom, but rather to shed my fears and insecurities and run without constraints the race before me.

Thought: The most beautiful dancing in a competition does not occur during the judged portion, it occurs during the freestyle portion, when all judging has been removed.
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