Queensway Tunnel

I have previously written about Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem, which I believe to be the only tunnel mentioned in scripture. It was cold and wet, but my recent visit to Liverpool’s Queensway Tunnel proved somewhat more convivial, even if it was slightly less interesting. The latter was opened in 1934, connecting the great city to its neighbour Birkenhead on the Wirral. Although ferrying across the Mersey is a more romantic concept, a road underneath the river is rather more convenient.

Sitting on the front seat of a double decker, I briefly contemplated what all other travellers have pondered: what if the roof breaks and that mass of brown water comes cascading in? Such an event is unlikely, though with Irish Republican bombers conveniently housed across the sea, the prospect was not unthinkable between the 70s and 90s.

Although Birkenhead will be considered by few to be akin to the Promised Land, it was certainly a finer place than the bowels of that underpass. This life sometimes feels like a tunnel: it is dark, cold and the end is not always in sight. For the Christian, thank God, the other side is always warm, bright and dry, with the Prince of Glory Himself waiting to receive His beloved people. For the unbeliever, the destination is worse than the tunnel that gets them there.

And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 8:11-12, New King James Version