John Griffith : The Controller Of A Great Railroad

INTRODUCTION

A few years ago, I heard a true story about a man named John Griffith. John was the controller of a great railroad drawbridge across the Mississippi River. One day in the summer of 1937, John took his eight-year old son, Greg, with him to work. At noon, John put the drawbridge up to allow ships to pass and sat on the observation deck with his son to eat lunch. Time passed quickly. Suddenly he was startled by the train whistle heard in the distance. He looked at his watch and noticed it was 1:07. The Memphis Express, with four hundred passengers on board, was coming toward the raised bridge.

John leaped from the observation deck and ran back to the control tower. Just before throwing the master lever, John glanced down to check for any ships. He saw something that caused his heart to leap into his throat. His son, Greg, had slipped from the observation deck and had fallen into the massive gears that operated the bridge. His left leg was caught in the cogs of the two main gears! Desperately John’s mind began spinning to devise a rescue plan. But as soon as he thought of a possibility, he knew there was no way it could be done.

Again, the train whistled blew. He could hear the clicking of the wheels on the tracks. That was his son down there, yet there were four hundred passengers on the train. John knew what he had to do. He buried his head in his left arm and pushed the master switch forward. That great massive bridge lowered into place just as the Memphis Express began to roar across the river.

When Griffith lifted his head with his face covered in tears, he looked into the passing windows of the train. There were businessmen casually reading their afternoon papers, finely dressed ladies in the dining car sippin...

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...f the New Testament are wholly prophetic in character. It is most reasonable to conclude, since every Bible prediction concerning the past has been fulfilled in the smallest detail, that we may expect all the remaining unfilled prophecies to be just as literally fulfilled.

God’s desire for the world is to have a relationship with His people. This began in the garden of Eden when he walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). It continued after man’s sin when he chose Abraham and his seed and entered into a covenant relationship with the nation of Israel. This desire to have a relationship with mankind was most graphically displayed by the sacrifice of His own Son to remove our sins, thus making it possible to have fellowship with God. This relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ should be the focus and most important aspect of our lives.