There was a man who worked for the railroad station. His office was a small wooden shack next to a bridge. Ships coming in from the harbor would need safe passage through the canal, however it was also a busy railroad. So several times a day, this man was in charge of raising and lowering a giant draw bridge.
The man had a young son. Ever since his wife died, he would take his son to work with him. He loved his son. And the son loved his dad. The father would show his son how the great machinery worked. All of the gears and pistons. It was impressive to see how the tremendous weight of all the steel was smoothly lifted and gently put back into place with such precision.
However, it was never the motors and the equipment that would fascinate the boy. What he loved most was watching the people on the train. On their way to the control shack everyday they would walk through the station where hundreds of busy people would board. Some seemed excited to be starting some new adventure. Others appeared to be in pain and deep sadness. Many were too busy to notice much of anything around them. But the boy noticed all of them. All of these different lives coming and going.
There’s a train comin’
One day there was a large freighter that was coming in through the waterway and the drawbridge went up to let the ship pass. The southbound 426 line passenger train from Chicago was running early, so he needed to make this a quick turn and get the bridge back down. As the boat passes through, off in the distance, you can see the smoke of the oncoming train. As the drawbridge conductor releases the pressure for the bridge to lower, nothing happens. The bridge won’t go down. Panic starts to set in. He adjusts the valves and resets the primer and tries it again. Nothing.
There are two emergency release levers, one is to the conductors right at the other is down at the bridge dock. All these years, he’s never had to pull this lever. As he braces himself to pull it, he sees someone rushing to the bridge dock. It’s his son. His son must have seen the train and the bridge up and was running to help. It all happened so fast. As the boy tried to reach for the manual release, he slips and falls into the gear box.
The train is coming
367 passengers sit on the passenger train. His son is trapped in the gear box. He has seconds to make an impossible choice. Pull the lever, lower the bridge and he will save the train, but sacrifice his only son. If he does nothing, the train will fall into the icy water below, killing all of the passengers onboard.
The next two seconds ticked by like an eternity…until he slowly pulls the lever down hearing the rusty switch groan and click into place. The draw bridge comes down.
The father stands outside his shack, watching the passengers pass by. They are sipping coffee. Whispering secrets. Some are sleeping. Unaware of the price that was just paid for their lives. In the back of the train is a young girl. Her heartache and brokenness had led her to a life of sorrow and drug addiction. Her body is longing for another release, so she heads into the bathroom for another fix. For some reason, she decides to look out the window. She’s confused by what she sees. There is a man outside a small shack. He’s sobbing. She can see in an instant the level of pain he is in. She knows that pain. She looks down at her drugs, and drops them into the trash and goes back to her seat.
A few years pass. The drawbridge conductor walks through the station, but he no longer can bring himself to look into the windows of the train at all of the people. His gaze now is down as he lumbers off to the shack. Not a day goes by where he doesn’t stare at that emergency lever and think about that choice he had to make. He can’t help but ask himself, “Did it even matter?” “Does anyone even realize the price that was paid for the lives they are living?”
Then as the smoke clears, he sees a young woman approach. She looks familiar. The face from the back of the train that day. She looks so beautiful and is carrying a young baby boy. She smiles as she approaches the shack. “Thank you” is all she says and walks away.
The train is here
Each of you live an amazing life. You are blessed beyond measure. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, or you aren’t aware of it, you are loved, cherished and protected. Your happiness and freedom was paid for you. God sacrificed his only son for you. Yes you.
You have a choice to make. One that will change you forever. Will you honor the sacrifice?
There may be people in the world that aren’t aware of what took place. Like some of the people on that train who just weren’t paying attention, and just go through their lives with no knowledge of what took place. That isn’t us. We know.
I know we are tired. We have a lot on our plate. Is it that big of a deal to sleep in on Sunday’s and miss mass every once in a while? PX90 is so early and our Saturdays are usually pretty full. It’s tempting to hide behind our emails, to do lists, and the ball game rather than answer the call to live an authentic life.
So the challenge is to remember the the girl in the back of that train; to witness the suffering that was endured and allow it to change us. We will turn away from darkness and shame, and seek the father out, looking at him with love and whisper, “Thank you.”
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