Article # 35 Resources
BRIDGE TOO FAR
Much has been reported on the bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska, as a bridge to nowhere. The commentary refers to the $320 million allocation of national highway funds to connect the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, population 8,900 with Gravina Island, population 50. After much conversation and public pressure, the bridge was never built. The phrase a bridge too far is defined as an act of overreach. The above photo is from my hometown almost exactly in the geographic center of our metroplex. Taxpayers voted to fund transportation within the 8-county metro area through a sales tax increase. It was part of the transportation funding called T Rex and FasTracks. So, combining FasTracks and T Rex, we modernized the transportation system, adding light rail within the metroplex. I ride light rail multiple times each month. I am a direct beneficiary of the planning and the funding. However, when governing entities make an attempt to do something large like T Rex and fast like FasTracks, the overreach very often occurs.
This bridge is for pedestrians and was erected during the early phases of the project. There are no stairways on either side. It now stands rusting, unused and abandoned as a testimony to big and fast. This example is crystal clear overreach and misuse of resources. We are rapidly becoming a cultural system which will not be able to tolerate such misallocation of resources.
Building your soul, using the soul road map you have constructed over these past weeks and months, is a continual lifelong task. It now demands an effective, productive use of all your resources – Time, Talent and Treasure. The reason you have invested your resources thus far in doing this task is to now use the soul roadmap you have built to drive your life. It is a navigation tool to help you live life according to your original design. Utilization of the five ideas of 1), using your faith as a method of creating a real relationship with God , 2) understanding how you are built as a person, 3) redefining family, 4) retooling your world of work and 5), thinking about how to allocate your resources to live into significance, gives you huge advantages to live intentionally and effectively within our current culture.
We suggest that in a world full of large and full of fast, the opportunity to design life patiently and purposefully is the best path forward. We want to help you to build bridges to somewhere. We seek the productive use of all of your resources to make life worth living for you. We encouraged you early on to create a journal to record all your work building your own soul roadmap. That journal now becomes the reference book as you continue to build as you drive through the rest of your life. It is exciting to think about getting productive use of all your future resources to serve you and your life as you live effectively and intentionally!