Stan, the train engineer, pulled out of the Jersey City freight yards with 60 cars behind his engine. He was heading west toward Bayonne, New Jersey.
As he approached 22nd Street, the beam of his bright headlight cut through the darkness and caught the outline of two boys on the overhead bridge that the train was about to pass under. One of the boys looked as if he were holding something out over the railing of the bridge.
He’s going to drop that on the train! Stan thought. Quick as a wink he jumped out of his seat, turning to face the rear of the train just as the huge cement block bounced off the hood and came crashing through the windshield. Shattered glass flew everywhere, covering Stan’s back and head but, thankfully, not giving him any serious cuts. The block landed squarely in the seat and embedded itself where he had been sitting only a moment before!
The Lord Jesus tells us to be watchful: “Watch thou in all things” (2 Timothy 4:55But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5)). He often forewarns us of trouble to come, and He wants us to be alert and on guard, not only against physical danger. He also pleads with us “as strangers and pilgrims, [to] abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:1111Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1 Peter 2:11)). “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:2323Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)).
ML-05/05/2019