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When we were utterly helpless,
Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is
likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a
person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending
Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made
right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from
God's judgment. For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death
of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from
eternal punishment by his life. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new
relationship with God--all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us
in making us friends of God. (Romans 5:6-11 NLV). On this day in 1994, the English
Channel tunnel opened. In a ceremony presided over by England's Queen Elizabeth
II and French President Francois Mitterand, a rail tunnel under the English
Channel is officially opened, connecting Britain and the European mainland for
the first time since the Ice Age. The channel tunnel, or "Chunnel,"
connects Folkestone, England, with Sangatte, France, 31 miles away. Napoleon's
engineer, Albert Mathieu, planned the first tunnel under the English Channel in
1802, envisioning an underground passage with ventilation chimneys that would
stretch above the waves. In 1880, Colonel Beaumont, who bore a tunnel more than
a mile long before abandoning the project, made the first real attempt. Other
efforts followed in the 20th century, but none on the scale of the tunnels begun
in 1986. At a cost of $16 billion, millions of tons of earth were moved to build
the two rail tunnels, one for northbound and one for southbound traffic and one
service tunnel. The Chunnel cut travel time between England and France by 45
minutes, and the monumental number of workers needed to build it provided a much
needed boost to the economies of Britain and France. This
connection between England and France is something of an engineering miracle.
And, as wonderful as it is, it is nothing compared to the miracle of God
reconnecting us to Him through Christ! Paul, in our reading today, says that
while we were still God’s enemies, He did all that was necessary to
“connect” us to His love! Wouldn’t it be tragic if no one used the Chunnel? About 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee who caught him in the act of robbing the mails. Wilson was tried and sentenced to be hanged. The President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, sent Wilson a pardon. But, Wilson did a strange thing: he refused to accept the pardon. No one seemed to know what to do because of this, so Wilson’s case was sent to the U. S. Supreme Court. Chief Justice Marshall wrote the opinion: “A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And he was. God has provided the way to eternal life for you. Take it today!
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