The Train

THE TRAIN

There was once a bridge that spanned a large
river. During most of the day the bridge sat
with its length running up and down the river
paralleled with the banks, allowing ships to
pass through freely on both sides of the bridge.
But at certain times each day, a train would
come along and the bridge would be turned
sideways across the river, allowing the trainto cross it.

>br> A switchman sat in a shack on one
side of the river where he operated the controls
to turn the bridge and lock it into place as the
train crossed. One evening as the switchman was
waiting for the last train of the day to come,
he looked off into the distance through the
dimming twilight and caught sight of the train
lights. He stepped onto the control and
waited until the train was within a prescribed
distance when he was about to turn the bridge.
He turned the bridge into position, but, to his
horror, he found the locking control did not work.
If the bridge was not securely in position, it
would cause the train to jump the track and go
crashing into the river. This would be a passenger
train with MANY people aboard. He left the bridge
turned across the river and hurried across the
bridge to the other side of the river, where there
was a lever switch he could hold to operate the
lock manually. He would have to hold the lever back
firmly as the train crossed. He could hear the
rumble of the train now, and he took hold of the
lever and leaned backward to apply his weight to
it, locking the bridge. He kept applying the
pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives
depended on this man's strength.

Then, coming cross the bridge from the direction of his control shack,he heard a sound that made his blood run cold.
"Daddy, where are you?" His four-year-old son
was crossing the bridge to look for him. His first
impulse was to cry out to the child, "Run! Run!"
But the train was too close; the tiny legs would
Never make it across the bridge in time. The man
almost left his lever to snatch up his son
and carry him to safety. But he realized that
he could not get back to the lever in time if he
saved his son. Either many people on the train -
or his own son - must die. He took but a moment to
make his decision. The train sped safely and
swiftly on its way, and no one aboard was even
aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly
into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were
they aware of the pitiful figure of the sobbing
man, still clinging to the locking lever long after
the train had passed. They did not see him
walking home more slowly than he had ever walked;
to tell his wife how their son had brutally died.
Now, if you comprehend the emotions that went through
this man's heart, you can begin to understand the
feelings of Our Father in Heaven when He
sacrificed His Son to bridge the gap between us
and eternal life. Can there be any wonder that He
caused the earth to tremble and the skies to
darken when His Son died? How does He feel when
we speed along through life without giving a thought
to what was done for us through Jesus Christ?