Today I read a really interesting blog by Dr. Ben Witherington from Asbury Seminary. He was talking about Roman architecture, primarily the bridges built by the Romans. To read the blog, just click on his name on the right of this page and read the blog with today's date. (June 26)

The thing that struck me was that many of the bridges built by the Roman army are still perfectly safe and usable today, nearly 2000 years after being built. That's impressive. Here in our "world" we're getting a new bridge just down the road. It has taken forever, and my guess is that if it lasts for 25 years it will be miraculous. Witherington stated that the Romans built these bridges to last because they expected their rule to last. They fully intended their reign to last forever, and so they built to accommodate that time frame. That's awesome.

Now I click and drag that article into church work, even the Christian life in general, and I have to admit, I'm not very proud of myself or some of my projects as they compare to Roman Bridges. While my work ethic is pretty good, my vision is very seldom as distant as "forever." My perspective is usually more short term. And I'm certainly not alone in this. We do VBS and our vision is usually "to make it through the week." We do summer camp, and often we countdown the hot, sweaty, sleepless hours until we get to go home. As I prepare sermons or Bible Studies, I often lose sight of the "forever" I'm trying to get folks to grasp as they live in the here and now; and just get it "done." As I deal with people and am hurt by them, offended by them, rejected by them or disgusted by them, I lose sight of "forever" and let our momentary interaction determine the course for all future interactions or the lack thereof.

What is my point in all of this? Good question, I'm not sure. As I read Dr. Ben's blog my spirit made some connection that at that time caused everything to fit in place...for a minute. This life in Christ thing is really unique. On the one hand we are to live for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. On the other hand we are to live with eternity---forever---always embedded within us. And I don't always get it. In the process of building bridges that last forever its so darn easy to lose focus and only pay attention to the "rocks" I'm fitting into place right now.