Tila Jo Marshall was on her hands and knees planting spring flowers in her yard about a block from the railroad tracks. She thought her toddler, 19-month-old Emily, was in the backyard playing. She heard the rumbling of the Norfolk Southern freight train coming down the tracks. The train ran on a schedule as regular as clockwork. Usually the engineer sounded a short blast with his horn when he approached the town as a way of saying, “Look out, the Norfolk Southern is coming through.”
She lifted her head to listen. Sure enough, she heard the short blast, but then the short blast was followed by long blasts and the harsh grating of train wheels braking. Something was wrong! The engineer kept blasting his horn; something must be on the tracks. A shiver ran down her spine. She ran to the backyard to see her children. Her little son was playing there, but where was Emily...?
The big, green locomotive, weighing 130 tons and pulling 96 loaded freight cars, lumbered down the tracks. The train had slowed to 24 miles per hour to pass through the town of Lafayette, Indiana. Engineer Rod Lindley was at the controls of the powerful train when he saw an object on the tracks in the distance. He thought it was a stray dog and let go another blast of his horn to scare it off the track. But it wasn’t a dog. As he got about a block away, the object stood up and he saw the shape of a small child. The child stood stock still in the middle of the tracks.
Engineer Lindley lunged for the emergency brakes and pulled the lever hard. He knew the brakes would never stop the train before hitting the child, but it would slow the train and maybe some miracle might happen in the extra seconds to save the child’s life. Pulling the emergency brakes was a terrible risk too. The strain might cause the entire train to slip off the tracks and derail. He kept blasting the horn, hoping someone might see the child in time.
Standing in the control compartment of the locomotive was a conductor named Robert Mohr. He too saw the small girl and knew there was not a second to spare. He climbed out the cabin door of the moving train and stepped onto a narrow walkway at the side of the locomotive. He ran down the walkway toward the front of the fifty-foot car. The air rushed past his face. The train, braking hard, had slowed to ten miles an hour. The toddler was still on the tracks; she had moved slightly to the edge, but she was still in the path of the train.
The conductor sped down a short flight of steps at the front of the locomotive and then jumped out onto the grill at the front of the train. One slip and it would have cost him his life, but he had no time to think about that danger. One foot found a toehold at the bottom of the grill on a slim piece of steel. His hands grabbed another piece of steel above his head. He swung his free leg out in order to get ready to kick. He timed the kick and swung his foot gently forward. The kick caught the little girl’s body and sent her tumbling to the side.
Did she make it? It had all happened so fast Robert Mohr couldn’t tell if the train had missed the child. His heart was pounding like the pistons of an engine as he pulled himself to an upright position and then off the moving train. He ran along the tracks to the little girl. The train continued to pass him as he ran. There she was—lying all bunched up in the gravel beside the tracks. A wave of relief washed over him as he heard her terrified crying. If she was crying she must be still alive! Bending over he saw that she was bleeding from a gash on the side of her head, but he could see no other injury. Quickly he felt for broken bones; finding none he picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
Little Emily’s mother ran up to the scene a few moments later, weeping hysterically. Paramedics also arrived and took Emily to the hospital. The doctors there closed up the gash with twenty stitches and kept her in the hospital for overnight observation. The next morning she was allowed to go home.
Emily’s life was saved by the brave action of Robert Mohr, who risked his own life to save hers. Later he received a medal from the office of the President of the United States for “outstanding bravery.” Risking his own life to save the life of someone he didn’t know, he certainly deserved it!
Do you know the One who came from heaven, at great cost to Himself, and made a way that we might be saved? He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He deserves all the honor every human heart can give Him. He is the One who made the world and all things in it. He saw that mankind had gone astray into sin, and He also knew that because they loved sin and darkness they were headed for judgment. This judgment is nothing less than death and everlasting separation from God. He knew there was no way they could avoid sin’s awful penalty if left to themselves. So the Creator of the universe humbled Himself and became a man and went all the way to the cross where He died for us.
Through His death on the cross every man or woman, boy or girl on the face of the earth may be saved if they believe on His name: “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)).
Love made the Lord Jesus willing to die on the cross for sinners. Greater love you could never find. Can’t you find it in your heart to love Him in return?