In the 1800s, trains were used commonly as a way for people to get around in England, as they are now. One night, a British express train was racing through the chilly darkness. All was going as normal, but suddenly they ran into thick fog. The engineer wisely slowed his train down, to keep everyone safe.
Now, being the one responsible to drive a train isn’t easy at any time, but on this particular evening it was really stressful. Fog pressed in on the train from all sides like thick folds of a heavy gray blanket. Even with the powerful headlight stabbing the darkness ahead, the engineer had to strain his eyes to see down the track. Added to the normal feeling of being responsible for people’s lives, this night he had an extra reason for feeling responsible, as well as wanting to be on time. In addition to several hundred other passengers, Queen Victoria herself was a passenger on his train.
Suddenly, he was startled to see, directly ahead, outlined in the brilliant beam of the engine’s headlight, a figure in a black cloak in the middle of the tracks waving his arms frantically! The engineer made a desperate grab for the emergency brakes and brought the express train to a screeching halt.
Amid the noise of the excited and frightened passengers, the trainmen got out to investigate. They searched and called, but there was no sign of the mysterious figure who had flagged their train.
Who had he been, and why had he stopped the train?
The crewmen were puzzled. They decided someone had been playing a joke. Even the engineer was almost convinced that it had either been somebody’s poor idea of a joke or his imagination playing tricks. But he wasn’t absolutely sure.
Just to make sure, he climbed down from his cab and walked up the tracks. He stopped when the tracks ended abruptly. There, not even 200 yards ahead of the stopped train, he found a washed-out bridge! The whole bridge had fallen into a swollen stream. If it hadn’t been for the mysterious flagman, the train would also have fallen into the stream, very likely killing the crew and all of the passengers, including the Queen.
Before the train backed up to detour around the washed-out bridge, the train crew looked again for the mysterious person who had saved the train. It wasn’t until the train reached London safely that the strange mystery was solved.
Lying at the base of the locomotive headlight, the engineer found a huge dead moth. Perhaps most people would have brushed the insect off and thought no more about it. But as he held the dead insect gently in his hand, he frowned thoughtfully.
Then he did a strange thing. He wet the wings of the moth and carefully pasted it to the glass of the headlight. Then he climbed back into the cab of his engine and switched on the light.
“Ah!” he cried triumphantly. “I thought so!” As the bright beam stabbed ahead into the darkness, there appeared once again the “phantom” the engineer had seen earlier. But now the “arms” weren’t waving wildly. They were still.
Yes, their mysterious rescuer had been a huge moth! Somehow, in the few seconds before the train reached the wrecked bridge, it had flown into the beam of the headlight and had gotten stuck. In the dense fog, the wriggling, trapped insect had resembled a cloaked figure waving his arms! An entire train and many lives had been saved by the projected shadow of a moth.
Later, when Queen Victoria was told of the strange incident, she said confidently, “It was no accident, of that I am sure. It was God’s way of protecting us.” And who but God could have ordered that a moth would save a whole trainload of people? He is almighty, strong to save His children by any way He chooses. Do you know Him as your loving and powerful Father? He loves you and wants you to know Him and to trust Him. He made you and cares about every detail of your life. The first step to having a relationship with Him is to accept the Lord Jesus as your own Savior. Then He wants you to know that He is with you and caring for you every moment of your life. “Trust in Him at all times. ... God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:88Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. (Psalm 62:8)). He also wants you to read the Bible, which is His own love letter to you, so you can get to know Him better. And He wants you to obey Him — and His will for you is “good, and acceptable, and perfect” (Romans 12:22And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)). What a truly happy life He has planned for you!
Messages of God’s Love 7/18/2021