We had a lady share a really cool story in church today. It was pretty neat and I'm going to share it with you. It is about a turn of events that could be coincidence, or an act of God. If you don't like this kind of thing, consider yourself warned and you have the option to stop reading here.
One of the ladies that goes to our church has a friend with an older son who has been pretty troubled for quite some time.
This lady's son told her that he was going for a walk, and he left. As time went by and he hadn't returned, she got more and more worried about him. Finally, after three hours, he returned home, sobbing like she had never seen him sob before.
This guy had decided that he was going to end his life. He was trying to think of an easy way to do it when he thought of the trains that go flying through this town. We have a very busy BNSF track that typically sends a coal train through here every 10-20 minutes day and night.
This guy decided that he'd just go start walking down the tracks and wait for a train. So, that is what he did. He started walking West on the tracks. He walked, and walked, but no trains came. He was a good mile out of town and a train still hadn't come.
Our church is about a mile outside city limits, and about 300 yards from the tracks. This guy got tired of walking and decided to stop on a little bridge that went over a creek and he sat down there in the middle of the tracks still waiting for a train. He sat there for quite some time, but no trains came.
As he sat there, he looked up the hill toward our church and saw the three large crosses beside our church that we keep lit up at night. As he sat there looking at those crosses, he started thinking about what is really important and was overwhelmed with emotion. Sitting on the tracks, looking at the crosses, he changed his mind. He got up and walked back home.
In a subtle way God probably spoke to him on that night.
Taking ones own life is a such a tragic way to end things. I'm a firm beleiver that we earn our place by God's side by enduring the hardships we are faced with on earth. To kill yourself is to just take the easy way out.
No, he didn't come to our church. That is all the lady told us. We don't know any more about him at this point.
I just thought it was pretty cool that the trains stopped running at the right time, and for the right amount of time. I thought it was cool that he stopped walking where he did to be right in view of those crosses.
