Safety Net

“The eternal God is our dwelling place; and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut. 33:27)

After his college graduation in 1892, Joseph Strauss, a fellow alumnus of mine from the University of Cincinnati, went on to form his own bridge design firm, becoming a world-famous structural engineer, eventually having designed over 400 major bridges in the United States and many other countries. There came a time around 1930 when he was asked by the city engineer of San Francisco, California to design a new bridge over the strait between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean known as the Golden Gate. The new bridge would be called the Golden Gate Bridge, and it would be the highest and longest suspension bridge ever built anywhere in the world at that time. Architect Irving Morrow was commissioned to design the architectural features and appearance of the 75-story high bridge supports, the colors and the lighting.

Mr. Strauss proposed a cable suspension-type structure consisting of a main center section spanning more than three-quarters of a mile with a total length of nearly two miles, extending from San Francisco on the south end to Marin County on the north end. The floor of the bridge would be suspended 220 feet above the water at high tide, roughly equivalent to a 20-story building. The contracts were let for construction to begin in 1933 and completed in 1937 at a total project cost of 35 million dollars. (That’s roughly 2 billion in today’s dollars.)

Based on records for bridge building at the time, there was typically one worker fatality for each one million dollars of construction cost. So, it was projected that there would be 35 fatalities among the workers during the four years of construction. However, Mr. Strauss, the engineer, was also the construction inspector and safety supervisor, and he determined that there was no need for that many casualties on his project. He designed a new safety device never before used for any bridge project, much less one of this size: There would be a safety net made of heavy rope webbing suspended beneath the workers. The net would be increased in size as the work progressed until it extended the full length of the nearly 2-mile bridge.

As it turns out, there were 19 men who fell from the bridge and were saved by the net from that 20-story death plunge into the ocean. However, one worker fell to his death before the first section of netting was completed, and, near the end of construction, a heavy, steel scaffold was dislodged and blown off the bridge into the net ripping a hole through it. Ten of the 13 workers on the scaffold perished in that accident bringing the total casualties to 11 for the project.

Besides saving those 19 lives, Mr. Strauss said the safety net provided another great benefit for the workers and the timely completion of the project: For many of the most dangerous tasks the completion time was cut in half, with greater precision, requiring fewer corrections. He said this factor was the most significant contributor to the project coming in under the timeline, and under the budget. The safety net became an element of confidence and assurance that it was there in the event of a mishap, giving the workers a greater sense of freedom to do their work to the best of their ability, without the fear of falling.

The 19 men who fell into the net all reported that the fall was a frightening experience, up until the moment they realized the net had stopped their fall and was not letting them go. At the end they all reported the same, overwhelming feelings that they were saved, but it was not without fear. They called themselves the “half-way-to-hell club.”  

Fellow Christian, there may be times when we, as sincere followers of Jesus, find ourselves falling toward an ocean of despair, or worry, or loneliness, maybe fear, distress, or physical  pain, perhaps heartache over a person or situation beyond our control. Many of us have received some distressing reports concerning our health. Sometimes we may just be worn out by the day-to-day grind, and the pressures of life. There may be a sudden catastrophe and we feel like we are walking a tight rope without a net, and we can’t take on any more pressure in fear of falling.  

Child of God, we can rest easy and be at peace in the arms of God, our own personal caregiver. While it’s true, we may endure some frightful experiences, and we may feel like we’re falling into that ocean, that’s when we can trust the ultimate safety net that we have under us, One that will be there forever, and will never fail: The Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, has us in His personal care.

“The eternal God is our dwelling place; and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut. 33:27)

_________EA