Bridging the Gap
!The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is considered an "eighth wonder of the world" It looms majestically over New York City's East River, linking the two boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It could only have driven a visionary, someone with a pioneering spirit, to have dared to embark on such an impossible undertaking, he was John Roebling. An industrial and civil engineer who having earned a reputation as a designer of suspension bridges had New York legislators approve his plans for a suspension bridge over the East River linking Manhattan and Brooklyn. Just before construction began in 1869, Roebling was fatally injured while taking a few final compass readings across the river and tragically died three weeks later from Tetanus. His son Washington Roebling took over as Chief Engineer.

It was gruelling on all fronts for all involved in the project. Not only did it take the life of its creator, but many more lives were lost in construction, even Washington had succumbed to "caisson disease" a decompression sickness that rendered him bedridden and terribly disorientated. When he could no longer manage the day to day supervision of the project, in stepped his wife, Emily Roebling. Emily stretched herself and displayed such proficiency in the issues of construction, stress analysis, cable fabrication and the like that many concluded that she had assumed the duties of Chief Engineer. On completion 14 years later, the Brooklyn Bridge made New York City the most important commercial metropolis in the United States, amongst the many other benefits it brought.It took a man with a plan, a vision and foresight to attempt a feat of this magnitude. More than this it showcased the 'mantle carriers' of his vision through the bravery and courage of his son and his daughter in law who at a time when women were so marginalised, continued with and never gave up on the dream of their father. They had to finish what he had begun, the fruit of which lives on today 133 years later!

Our pioneering spirit comes from God. His Holy Spirit anointing and direction helps stir our hearts and minds in igniting our imaginations and creative abilities. Pioneers stretch boundaries and extend horizons, they widen the parameters of the possible and detonate the laws of the impossible. Pioneers abandon the status quo and create a 'new normal'. Pioneers penetrate the borders of small thinking. Pioneers see giants as grasshoppers while others see grasshoppers as giants. Pioneers take risks and defy the odds. This is the conquering spirit which when coupled with Gods is able to do greater and far exceedingly than our minds can conceive.

When God told Abraham to leave his hometown, his possessions and all that he held familiar to go to a place that was still to be revealed to him, he went. When God told Moses to lead 2, 5 million people across the desert into the Promised Land, he went. When God told Mary that she would conceive and birth a Saviour, she complied. When God commissioned Esther into the courts of King Xerxes, she went. When God told Peter to leave his big catch of fish and follow Him, Peter went. All of these people stepped out of their comfort zones and acted on the promptings and Promises of God through faith and obedience despite what their fears and flaws dictated. They pioneered the way forward in bridging, saving, delivering, and showcasing the Might and Dominion of God Almighty. "But the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven" Deuteronomy 11:11. In the prophetic realm the number 11 represents a bridge, a bridge aids in the crossing process, especially when turbulent waters and dangerous terrain threaten to obstruct and frustrate the plan.

When God promises to take you over to the other side, He means it, He fulfils that promise - no ship wreck or red sea will stop it, He intervenes and builds those bridges when it counts! He Himself became the ultimate bridge when He made a way for us through Calvary's cross, bridging every chasm that separated man from God. The journey is marked by hills and valleys, sufferings and sacrifices, but joy always comes in the morning, like raindrops on sun-scorched land, refreshing restoration, and relief comes, it always does. For I am confident in this, that He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6. God has called us to make a difference, to step out. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10.