The 5:03 p.m. commuter train was right on time. On this beautiful summer afternoon Mrs. Griffin could see the rotating headlight of the engine as it rapidly approached. How surprised her husband would be to be met by his wife and two young sons. The walk home together would be fun. Two-year-old Kevin was especially excited about meeting his daddy’s train. Ten-month-old Steven was asleep in the stroller, and Kevin sat behind him in the tandem seat.
The train was about a quarter of a mile outside the station as the small crowd that was waiting pushed ahead slightly to get a better view. Just this little movement pushed the stroller over the edge of the platform down onto the tracks right in the path of the train. The crowd gasped, but nobody moved! The stationmaster saw what happened, but was frozen with fear. Were those two little children going to be killed under the wheels of the train? No!
In a flash Mrs. Griffin jumped down onto the track, quickly threw Kevin up onto the platform, and in one movement grabbed Steven and leaped back up herself, just as the train roared in and crushed the empty stroller!
What made Mrs. Griffin risk her own life to save her two little boys? It was a mother’s love. The love that she had for her two sons was instantly shown. I am sure you would have remembered the sight for the rest of your life if you had seen it happen.
There is another, greater love that was shown nearly 2,000 years ago. It was the love of a Father who offered up His Son as a sacrifice for the sins of this poor world. It is all told in one wonderful verse: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). That word “whosoever” means you and it means me. It means every boy and girl who will put his or her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
ML-11/10/1985