Cross Ties | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Cross Ties | Previous Challenge Entry
By LINDA GERMAIN
02/19/26
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After the speeding train engine flew off the track and into the middle of a small, quiet town, I knew exactly what would happen next. On cue, a large hand reached down and picked up the wreckage to carefully return it to its pre-accident position. After a few adjustments and restoration of cars, cows, pets, and a few trees, off it went to its undetermined destination as if nothing had happened to thwart its journey.

My dad was a model railroad enthusiast. He built the most interesting miniature villages and intricate track formations. Over the years, the charming landscape improved dramatically. The multi-tracks took different directions through tunnels, around mountains, and always right to the little depot.

As the tracks became more complicated, other trains were added, all controlled by the big hand in charge of power at the head of the evolving town built on a huge piece of plywood. He wired it for tiny streetlights and crossing alerts. Sometimes the engines had loud horns. The old-fashioned steam ones could even belch a few puffs of pretend smoke.

It was fun to sit on a stool at the other end and observe the goings-on in the cute little village. Once in a while, a glitch would keep the engine from moving correctly, so I would reach over and reset the wheels into the track grooves.

Just as in real life, where humans, animals, and trees-with-roots are not plastic, things would often go awry. A misaligned train engine hauling around the curve with Pullmans, cattle cars, and a red caboose attached could careen off course and knock over everything in sight, even the tiny church with a steeple, but no inside people, and various other buildings or water towers.

At that point, my tall earthly father would reach down and, with great patience, gently put everything back together.

The quiet lesson that was imprinted on me had nothing to do with fear that a real, humongous locomotive would suddenly derail and land on cars and park benches in our town, but rather the importance of being firmly on track before zooming off in unknown directions, possibly with sparks flying from wheel errors.

Many metaphors for life experiences can be milked from my dad’s affection for small-gauge model trains and the tiny fantasy villages he created. More than one Biblical truth could be highlighted from the story.

The main one, for me, is this. It’s our Father in Heaven who reaches down into our sprawling messes of wrong thinking, bad choices, and the damaging directions we seem to embrace without consulting His plan. Forgiving us and setting us back on track is the ultimate unmerited favor--the very picture of the Divine Hand of Grace.
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Hebrews 4:16 NIV

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

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