And it was. Nineteen-month-old Emily Marshall had wandered away from home while her mother planted flowers in the yard.
Engineer Lindley hit the brakes, but it takes longer than that to stop a train. Mohr bolted out the door and ran along a ledge to the front of the engine. There was no time for him to jump ahead of the train and grab the baby. So he ran down a set of steps, squatted at the bottom of the grill (with the train still moving!) and waited for the right moment. When the time was exactly right (and there was only one chance to do this correctly!) Mohr stretched out his leg and kicked little Emily out of the way.
He then jumped off the train, ran back to where she lay crying beside the tracks, and cradled her in his arms. Emily suffered a cut on her head and a swollen lip—but she was okay.
On May 22, 1998, Mohr was awarded the Hoosier Hero award by the 105th Session of the Indiana Congress for his “courage, bravery and selfless act.”
God looks ahead on the tracks of our lives and sees the dangers we sometimes can’t see, dangers that don’t necessarily mean that our physical lives are in danger. They can be emotional or spiritual.
But there are other times when we make decisions which could ultimately hurt us. We are lying exposed on the tracks, vulnerable to the “trains” headed our way. With great love and compassion, God may remove us from the situation in order to rescue us. Sometimes, like this train conductor, God must hurt us in order to save us.
We must remember during times such as those that our Heavenly Father does indeed love us, regardless of appearances. Our pain and grief may tell us that God has forgotten us, but the truth is that God has a much bigger plan than we can see.
Sometimes that plan includes kicking us out of the way of a danger or a circumstance we cannot see. Trusting Him becomes even more important then than ever.
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com