OUT
OF HARM’S WAY

Topics: Discipline; Pain; Problems; Rescue

References: Psalm 119:6, 71; Hebrews 12:4–13; James 1:2–4

A train was rolling down the rails of Lafayette, Indiana, at twenty-four miles per hour. Suddenly the conductor, Robert Mohr, spotted an object on the tracks roughly a city block away. Initially the engineer, Rod Lindley, thought it was a dog on the tracks. Then Mohr screamed, “That’s a baby!”

The baby was Emily Marshall, a nineteen-month-old toddler who had wandered away from home while her mother planted flowers in her yard.

Lindley hit the brakes. Mohr bolted out the door and raced along a ledge to the front of the engine. Realizing there was no time to jump ahead of the train and grab the baby, he ran down some steps, squatted at the bottom of the grill, and hung on.

As the train drew close to Emily, Mohr stretched out his leg and pushed her out of harm’s way. Mohr then jumped off the train, picked up the little girl, and cradled her in his arms. Little Emily ended up with just a cut on her head and a swollen lip.

Sometimes, like this train conductor, God must hurt us in order to save us.

—Charles Kimball, Winston-Salem, North Carolina