I was 14 years old at the time, and the woman I was babysitting for was driving me home. It was summer time in Florida, so even at night we had the air conditioner on in the car – which meant, windows were up. The radio was playing, and we were talking. Without the presence of a railroad guard gate, all we noticed was the green traffic light on the other side of the tracks. And, no we didn’t notice the red blinking lights. We did not even notice the train approaching, or hear the blaring whistle, but before we knew what, hit us – BANG!! – we rammed right into the side of the train, just as it approached the tracks! As the car kept feeding into the train, all I could say was, “PUT IT IN REVERSE! PUT IT IN REVERSE!”
Neither of us thought to open the car door and run, we just stayed in there until the train stopped a little ways down the track, at which time the entire hood of the car was almost completely eaten by the train.
Next thing we knew, people were knocking on our window asking if we were okay! The paramedics were there in no time and they were the one’s to finally convince us to get out of the car. Amazingly enough, we escaped without a bump, bruise, scratch, or blood from anywhere!
For several months afterwards I started to ponder the whole unbelievable incident! I could have died!…Was I ready to die?…I think I’m ready to die…Surely I’d go to Heaven…I mean, I’m a good person, no drugs, no cussing, no alcohol, respectful, I go to church every Sunday!
It was the following summer, when I was 15, that I attended our youth group’s summer conference to Jekyll Island, Ga. It was called “Fun In The Son”. A man by the name of Jay Kesler was speaking that night in August. He spoke about the unique member of the lizard family, the chameleon. He pointed out their defense mechanism of being able to camouflage themselves. When they land on something yellow – they turn yellow, land on something green – they turn green. Essentially, they blend in. He then pointed out how easy it is for us as humans to do the same thing. When we go to church we act like a Christian – when we go to a party we act like a partier – when friends are telling course jokes, or mocking others, we join in. We blend in. But when you believe on Jesus Christ that He died for your sins on the cross and after 3 days rose from the dead and accept Him as your Savior, you become a new creature, Christ lives in you! “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father. but by me.” John 14:6 KJV
What’s truly involved in asking Him to live in you, is that you must be willing to live for Him! That means you take Him everywhere with you! You aren’t going to “blend in” anymore! And yes, you may lose some so-called “friends”, and not be very popular, but look at who you are living for – the one and only God, the Creator, the one that loves you no matter what, forgives even the worse offense, comforter, healer, and most important, friend!
On that particular night in August, I became painfully aware of just how lonely I was. My mom had died 3 years before, and I was very close to her. When she died, I lost a dear friend. Humans will die, leave, and disappoint us. But God is there for us, forever! I can talk to Him whenever!
It was at that moment after hearing how much Jesus must have loved ME to suffer and die for my sins that I surrendered my sorry life to Jesus, and decided to live for Him! To this day, He is THE ONE I live for! Even as much as I love my husband, he is not the one I live for. My husband can let me down, just as much as I can let him down. But God will never let us down, or leave us!
Yes, I really was HIT BY A TRAIN AND LIVED! That train was my wake up call, none of us knows when we are going to die, but we can know where we are going to live after we do die. I may be a nobody on this earth – but I am definitely SOMEBODY to God!
by Anne Averette 02/07/2020