'The Drawbridge Keeper'

Today in Sacrament Meeting was 'Fast & Testimony Meeting'.  I had the privilege to hear from many of my dear brothers and sisters of their love for the Savior and His sacrifice.

A girl shared a story that hit me really hard. It's kind of long, but I promise it's worth the read.
It's titled "The Drawbridge Keeper":

"There was once a bridge that spanned a large river.  During most of the day the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to pass through freely on both sides of the bridge. But at certain times each day, a train would come along and the bridge would be turned sideways across the river, allowing the train to cross it.

A switchman sat on the riverbank and operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the train crossed.

One evening as the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come, he looked off into the distance through the dimming twilight and caught sight of the train lights.  He stepped onto the control and waited until the train was within a prescribed distance.  Then he was to turn the bridge.  He turned the bridge into position, but to his horror, he found the locking control did not work.  If the bridge was not securely in position, it would cause the train to jump the track and go crashing into the river.  This would be a passenger train with MANY people aboard.

He left the bridge turned across the river and hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river, where there was a lever he could hold to manually operate the lock.

He would have to hold the lever back firmly and let the train cross.  He could hear the train's rumble, and he took hold of the lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to it, locking the bridge.  He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked.  Many lives depended on this man's strength.

Then, coming across the bridge from the direction of his control shack, he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

"Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him.  His first impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run! Run!" But the train was too close; the tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time.

The man almost left his lever to snatch up his son and carry him to safety.  But he realized he would not be able to get back to the lever in time if he saved his son.

Either many people on the train or his own son - must die.

He took but a moment to make his decision.  The train sped safely and swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the on rushing train.  Nor were they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing man, still clinging to the locking lever long after the train had passed.  They did not see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked; to tell his wife how their son had brutally died."

I cry as I type this story out to you--it refused to copy/paste into this box I'm writing in.

Sometimes we don't stop to comprehend the pain that our Heavenly Father went through sacrificing His Only Begotten Son for us. He loves us enough that He did this for us.

It breaks my heart that people take advantage of the Atonement and its healing powers, when Heavenly Father suffered for it.  The God of the heavens, our Creator and Maker, the Being with more power than any other being on earth... wept for us. Can you imagine our Heavenly Father weeping? Having to watch His son die for the sins of all mankind without being able to do anything about it.

I am so grateful that our Heavenly Father loves us enough that He was willing to sacrifice His Only Begotten Son for us.  Something that a boy in my ward shared in last month's testimony meeting:

If I was the only person on this earth to ever live, Jesus would still come to this earth and suffer so that I could live with my Heavenly Father and my Savior again.

That's how much our Savior and our Heavenly Father love us.

May we all remember the sacrifice that our Savior made for us.
And may we also remember the sacrifice our Heavenly Father made so we could come back to Him.