The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the longest and most spectacular bridges in the world. Spanning the Pacific Ocean for 6,450 feet it con-nects northern California to the peninsula of San Francisco with a total length of 8,981 feet.

It was built at a cost of $35,000,000 (or about $140 mil-lion by today's standards) and took four years to complete. Towers on either side stand 746 feet high and hold two steel cables 3-1/2 feet in di-ameter which support thousands of tons of con-crete and steel. The center section is 4,200 feet in length, one of the longest spans in the world. A six-lane highway and sidewalks make up the floor of the bridge.

Joseph B. Strauss, the chief engineer, battled against unrelenting opposition and criticism. Many said it was impractical to throw his 100,000 tons of steel across the San Francisco Bay . The unlearned scoffed and jeered while the learned said that the southern pier was over a geologic fault and would threaten the harbor in case of an earthquake. But undaunted and determined, Strauss pursued his solitary dream to span the Bay battling the difficulties of rapidly running tides, frequent storms and fogs and the problem of blasting rock under water to plant earthquake proof foundations.

Begun in 1933 the bridge was completed after four years and on May 27, 1937 amid the shouts of working men and the populace, the ribbon was cut and the first car made its maiden journey across the bridge.

Some have asked if this was the most important bridge ever built. No, there was an even greater bridge built 2,000 years ago. The towers are remarkable. One was raised outside the gates of old Jerusalem ; it was a wooden struc-ture with a cross beam at the top; it was soaked with divine blood and seared by judgment fires.

The other tower stands high on the "Immovable Mountain of Immortality" and around it on every side flash walls of jasper, and over it the arching rainbow of perpetual peace. The span is the longest ever swung by an engineer. It stretches all the way from the road to hell to the gates of heaven. It was built at an awe-some cost to the Chief Designer. As the last rough rivet was driven in place by a Roman sledgeham-mer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God died shouting "IT IS FINISHED."

Before his bloody body has been removed from this magnificent superstructure of redemption, the bridge had been crossed by a thief. Millions more have crossed it since. For written there in bold blazing letters of fire for all men everywhere to read:

THERE ARE NO TOLL CHARGES ON THIS BRIDGE - IT IS FREEl

"For as much as ye know that ye were not re-deemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold...
but with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
1 Peter 1:18-19

"In whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace."
Ephesians 1:7

"For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of Cod is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 6:23

"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Acts 2:21