from harold's file . . .
Some time ago there was a town. In this town there was a railroad line.
This
railroad line carried passengers from one side of the state to the
other...
and in the middle the train had to cross a bridge. This wasn't just any
bridge. This was a bridge that moved whenever a ship needed to pass
through
the waters-- a ship that was too big to fit under the bridge. Sometimes
the
train and the ship would intersect at the same time... that the rate the
train
was going would come to the bridge at the same exact moment that the
bridge
was turned for the ship to pass by. Never once had that train gone over
the
edge of the track by the river... for a way of stopping the train had
been
made. A man in a lighthouse by the swinging bridge would watch the train
from
miles away and would watch the ship coming. If it looked as though the
train
would come to the bridge when it was turned, he would wave a lighted
lantern
to another man by the tracks-- some five miles where he was from. The
man by
the tracks would then light a lantern and wave it on the tracks, and the
train
would stop... stop until the ship had passed and safety was once again in
it's
realm. One day however, tragedy struck. The man in the lighthouse
looked for
the ship and the train, and as the saw them both he lit his lantern and
waved
it to the man on the tracks. The man on the tracks then held up his
lantern
to the train... but the train didn't stop. He cried and screamed at the
top
of his lungs, but the train didn't stop. He got on the tracks, and
motioned
with his arms and his whole body, but the train went right by. That man
watched the train go by with tears in his eyes. His sobbed, for little
did
the people know on the train know what was only a few miles ahead. And
the
train went on, and it smashed right into the river... and all 400 people
on
the train died. Later these two men were brought to trial. During that
time,
lawyers asked the man at the lighthouse this question : WHAT WENT
WRONG....WHY DIDN'T YOU WAVE YOU LANTERN??? And the man at the
lighthouse said, "I DID wave my lantern, and I did my job".
So the lawyers asked the man at the tracks... WHY DIDN'T YOU WAVE YOUR
LANTERN??? And the man at the tracks said, "I DID wave my lantern, and i
shouted and screamed, and i watched as the train went by, doing all i
possibly could do myself..."
So the lawyers, finding that the two men DID do their jobs, let them go.
The
man who had been posted at the lighthouse that night continued with his
job,
but the man who had been at the tracks sold ALL he owned, and moved into
the
mountains... he became a hermit, and saw NO one until he just about died.
One day, many years later, the man who had been posted at the
tracks
came back to town. No one knew who he was... he had changed so much, and
he was dying. He walked through the town... looking at how much
everything had changed, and finally he went up to an older looking man.
This man was one of the lawyers who had prosecuted him many years ago.
And the man went up to the lawyer with tears in his eyes. He said, "Do
you remember many years ago when that train over yonder crashed into the
great big river?"
And the lawyers replied, "yes."
Then the man said to the lawyer, "I Did wave my lantern sir, I waved it
with all of my might.... but it wasn't lit".
"You are the light of the World. A city on a hill cannot be
hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put in under a bowl. Instead they put
it
on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same
way, let
your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise
your
Father in heaven"
--Jesus Christ, Matthew 5: 14-16--
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