The Gordie Howe International Bridge is now open! It is stands 151 feet above the water, 2,798 feet wide, spans 1.5 miles across the Detroit River, joining Canada to the United States between Windsor and Detroit. It has been 96 months in the building, under three U.S. administrations, and two Canadian Federal governments, and surviving 264 months of attacks from owners of Ambassador Bridge in multiple court challenges and through the US Administration. (The Gordie Howe would serve as a direct competition to the Ambassador bridge for cross-border traffic.) Since the opening of the Bridge on July 26, 2026, the political opposition has shifted from preventing its opening to the avarice of demanding money from its operations and the arguments regarding the agreement that was signed. We can be quite sure that the Gordie Howe Bridge is not going to leave the news as yet.
The Bridge was named after Gordie Howe (1928-2016), nicknamed “Mr. Hockey”, a Canadian born in Floral, Saskatchewan. Between 1946 to 1980, he played a record 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons with the World Hockey Association. His first 25 seasons were with the Detroit Red Wings. Howe is often considered the most complete player ever to play the game and one of the greatest of all time. At his retirement, his 801 goals, 1,049 assists, and 1,850 total points were all NHL records that stood until they were broken by Wayne Gretzky who deeply honoured Howe’s legacy. In short, Gordie Howe represented the uniting force between US and Canada in a game that both countries loved. Everything about the Gordie Howe International Bridge speaks of the unity and cooperation between the two neighbours, Canada and the US.
Yet, you will find written all over your news pages that all efforts towards unity have sworn enemies. This is not new. The Bible warns us that Satan will send agents of division who will come into the church as wolves in sheep’s clothing to lead many astray and destroy the beauty of Christian fellowship (Matthew 7:15; Matthew 10:16; John 10:12; Acts 20:29). Persecution will come to strike the shepherds so that the flock will scatter (Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27). Hence, Paul urgently calls the church to “pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Romans 14:19; Ephesians 4:3) and the writer of Hebrews calls us to strive for peace with each person (Hebrews 12:14). Merrill Unger, a missionary turned theologian, who wrote “Biblical Demonology” (1952), the first seminal book of its kind stated, “I did not understand why in my work as a missionary I would see the demon possessed tearing at each other, and injuriously tearing everything that they touched, until I saw that the root word for ‘demon’ was ‘the divider or the disrupter or that which tears apart.’ Disunity is at the heart of the demonic nature.” Today, anger, pride, carelessness, coldness and many other demonic vices divide people, cause churches to split, and people to be jettisoned into lonely places. It’s going on at the Gordie Howe International Bridge. And it has gone on everywhere. The Bible tells us that Jesus is He who “holds all things together” (Colossians 1:17). May we be as Jesus – people who are peacemakers and thus be called “the children of God” (Matthew 5:9); people who forgive as we are forgiven; people who love as we have been loved by Christ. Let’s pursue the things that make for peace.
