Markers
The freight-train driver knows about driving to plan.
He knows a fully loaded train needs to be carefully managed if it is to
climb steep grades and remain under control down the other side.
He knows precisely where to begin lifting engine power or decreasing engine
power to bring it to a stop.
It is a skill learned through years of experience in getting to know the
road. He has to have traveled over the road many times to fine-tune engine
power according rules of good management for his train load and the terrain.
He has ways of managing his train.
‘When you learn the road,’ he said, ‘you pick out markers that remind you of
what is ahead. You might choose a red-roofed house near the line as being
the place to put on the brakes. Or you might choose a distinctive tree near
the fence as the place to begin applying power to go up the next grade.
‘As soon as you see the marker it reminds you of exactly where you are and
what you need to do with your engine. If you ignore it, you will have
trouble controlling your train.
‘One of my markers is at the foot of last grade where I power the engine to
bring me to journey’s end. I have obeyed all the laws of good engine
management, my trainload will be delivered, my long night’s work will be
over, and I can take my rest.’
The train driver’s eyes filled with tears as he confided, ‘My marker for
that last hill is the Memorial beside the line with the names of my uncles
engraved on it. It has a little light above it that never goes out. On the
darkest night, at the weariest point, I see the light and I power the engine
to take me home.’
Jesus seemed to know about train drivers. He put markers all through
Scripture to tell about powering up the engines. There is a tree, a slain
lamb, a boat, a rainbow and even two tablets of stone where God wrote the
laws of engine management.
My favourite marker of all time is the one made at the beginning when God
said ‘Let us make man in our image’ and Jesus is ‘the image of the
invisible God’, Colossians 1:15.
Like the light on the driver’s Memorial marker, Jesus is the light of the
world shining over the laws of good engine management and he powers us home.
Elizabeth Price