The Train to Monte Carlo

The Stairs to Nowhere

1 May 2011

1 John 4:8 NIV

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Cold. COLD. I woke up shivering. Why was I so cold? 

The darkness and cold disoriented me. I tried to make out Carmen and Donnie's forms from the murky light of the rail yard seeping into our coach compartment.

We were traveling south in third class coach to Monaco from Austria. Our final goal before returning to the states was to spend time on the beach along the pristine Mediterranean Sea.

But what is all this noise? Why is the conductor yelling for passports? Why am I so COLD? Where are we?

BAM! CRASH! Our car hit another car behind us followed by the high-pitched squeal of iron on iron as brakes froze on iron rails. Our car, detached from our train, began to move backward at a rapid pace.  

The engineers were connecting us to another train.

None of this made sense.

Carmen and Donnie fumbled for their passports. The conductor asked us in German where we were headed. We replied, Monte Carlo. He doubled over in laughter.

"It's cold here! Not warm! You're in the mountains. You're going the wrong way. You're going north, not south! Your train is over there! You're headed to Innsbruck!"
 
Innsbruck! We were headed back from where we had just come! We looked where the conductor had gestured and saw our train about four tracks away as it began to pull out of the station. We screamed in dismay.

Thankfully we traveled light. We grabbed our bags, jumped off our train, and ran across four tracks, looking anxiously for four possible trains that could plow into and flatten us.

We hopped onto our train before it sped up too much. We located an available spot to settle in for the night. This time, we hoped to wake up to warm weather in the morning.

Several times in life, God has redirected me onto the right track. I get complacent and settled in my ways until I wake up confused and wonder how I ended up where I am. He's willing to point out the way to me. God is concerned about me and lovingly helps me.

Although the train conductor helped us, he took intense pleasure in our confusion and mocked us for our ignorance. He openly laughed in our faces and helped us only indirectly through his mockery.

Thank goodness God is not like that man.

God is love. God cares when I'm lost and tries to save me because He loves us. Jesus was mocked on the cross. He understands how that feels when I'm mocked and ridiculed by others.

It's comforting to know He takes mercy on me and helps me because He is Love.
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Thank you, Lord, for your compassion and love as you help me get on the right track in life.