The tragedy of the collapsed bridge outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, reminds us of the importance of infrastructure.  Apparently the infrastructure of the bridge had been questionable for some time.  I noticed in the CLARION LEDGER yesterday (or was it today?) that there are a number of bridges in Mississippi which are in bad shape and which need work.  Marshall Ramsay's cartoon in today's CLARION LEDGER illustrates the rickety nature of the aging infrastructure throughout the USA.  Work, serious work, needs to be done on the infrastructure of our country.  This would include railroad tracks and beds, roads, highways, sewage systems, water systems, bridges, interstate highways, utilities everywhere, and the list could go on. 

Infrastructure is a big ticket item--huge, actually.  When you think, for example, of the Interstate highway project and how long it lasted, then you appreciate the cost for us to enjoy the benefit of interstate highway travel.  But these roads, bridges, etc., are aging and need to be refreshed and brought up to date.  Every part of infrastructure needs to be refreshed and brought up to date periodically.  Machinery gets old and wears out; it does not last forever.  The same is true with the materials in any other kind of structure.  They get old and give out.  They must be renewed, replaced, and whatever else you do with things like that.

Let's turn the focus on infrastructure to us as individuials for a moment.  What is our infrastructure?  Physiologically it would be that which holds us up and keeps us going.  It would be our major organs and bone structure.  It would include our brain and nervous systems.  These get old, sometimes need repair, refurbishing, and renewing.  Sometimes they need to be replaced--as in organ replacement, which is done much more often than it once was.  The growing number of hip replacements, knee replacements, and other kinds of joint replacements tells us that this is something which is done on a fairly routine basis so that people can keep going with their lives.  I applaud all of that and the advances of medical science which have made it possible.

What about spiritual infrastructure?  What is that?  Well, it is the foundation and structure of our faith which encourages and motivates us.  If we are fortunate, that spiritiual infrastructure begins to be built when we are children.  The earlier it is constructed, the better off we are.  But even if it doesn't come until later, it is of great value and support to a person.  Sometimes our spiritual infrastructure needs to be refreshed and updated.  We call this revival, renewal, or sometimes simply instruction and growth in the faith.  If we stay at the level we were as children, then our faith infrastructure won't do us much good when we are adults.  That infrastructure must grow as we grow into adulthood.  Children's stories must be replaced by theology, ethics, missions, and other more sophisticated applications.  They build on the simple stories of childhood and enable us to build our spiritual superstructures thereon.  And we all have spiritual superstructures.  We may not call them that, but they are the spiritual construction which enables us to function throughout our lives.

In what condition do you find  the spiritual infrastructure of your life?   Does it need to be tended to before it crashes under the weight of the demands of your daily life?  Tend to it regularly in your church attendance, involvement, and spiritual growth.  Don't be caught up short someday when a crisis overtakes you and you don't know which way to turn.  Your spiritual infrastructure and superstructure will get you the help you need to get through the crisis.