From Terror to Tranquility

Picture a wee little girl asleep in her bed in the middle of the night Then, imagine an extremely LOUD train coming down the tracks right past the little girl's house, horn blaring fiercely. All of a sudden, the little girl sits straight up in the bed, hops down on the floor and makes a mad dash to her mamma and daddy's bedroom screaming, "It's gonna get me -- I scared! Can I peas seep wif you?" Oh, what a warm comforting feeling to crawl into their bed and snuggle up all safe and sound away from the mean old choo-choo train! Well, that little girl was me -- oh so many years ago in a small town in South Carolina. Night after night after night that train came through, and night after night after night I ran as fast as my tiny little feet would carry me to the safety of my mamma and daddy's bedroom.

Now picture that same little girl who is all grown up at the age of 48. How ironic is it that I would end up living my married life 3 hours away from the little town in South Carolina, yet a similar set of train tracks runs right past my house nestled back in the mountains of western North Carolina, and a train chugs along those tracks every single day? Only now, it's amazing how much joy and tranquility a train brings to my life! I can't wait to see/hear it coming down those tracks. It's actually makes for quite a beautiful motion picture as it glides along through the lush green trees of spring and summer, the colorful trees of fall, and the snow-laden trees of winter.

Amazing how the clocks and calendars of the aging process have a way of changing our outlook on certain aspects of life and move us along from moments of sheer terror to moments of pure tranquility! More amazing still is what you can see in the picture above that I took on my cell phone at lunchtime today. The train was making its way past my house as I went home for lunch. I wonder if the shadow of a telephone pole, which just happened to somehow get into the picture (and which I didn't notice at all at the time I was taking the picture) was God's way of speaking sweet peace to my soul? After all, that shadow sure looks like a cross to me -- a symbol that God paid the supreme sacrifice and, because He lives in me, I have nothing to fear! Sorta makes cold chills run up and down my spine. Our God is an AWESOME God!!!