Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Strange Flagman

(Written article by Nelly Favis Villafuerte published in old newspaper that I had unintentionally read early this morning. Because last night I was crying and praying to God that He may give me the courage and strength to accept what will happen when October ends. I know God has a purpose and reason why I found this piece. I believed it was God's way of telling me that in His Mighty Hands I am always safe and He has a better plan for me because He's in control of everything.)

So often said that God is neither early nor late. He's exactly on time! Yes, God's timing in our lives is a mystery that we cannot fully understand no matter how we try. Isaiah 55:8-9 of the Holy Bible says: "For My (God) thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Many times in our lives, we ask our Lord God:  "Why O Lord are you allowing this and that to happen in our lives? You let us down, Lord. You disappoint us." When we are in this situation, our faith in our Almighty God wavers. Our faith dwindles. We don't like God's direction, so we seek our own alternative. We cease to believe that Biblical promise of our Lord God that "I will never leave you. I will never forsake you." In short, we ignore Proverbs 3:5 that says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." We forget that our Lord God is in control.


Many of us who choose to seek our own alternative when our faith in our Lord God dwindles - find out that after we have played out all our alternatives and options, we become more helpless. And during this crisis in our life, we come to realize that there is nothing more we can do except to trust our Almighty God. We come to realize and admit that there are beyond our scope and power to fix. We come to realized that in hopeless situations in our life, we can find comfort and peace of mind in the words of Psalm 46:10 that says: "Be still, and know that I am God xxx." Be still simply means to relax and to loosen our tension. Yes, let us just lift our problems up and let God be God. As the Holy Bible says: "The eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy." Let us not forget that small and big problems have one common successful solution. And that is simply to trust in God. We can never out plan, out talk, out solve, out think and out do our omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. Our human abilities are limited. God's capabilities are limitless, absolute, matchless and endless. Clearly capsulized in the words of the Holy Bible that "nothing is impossible with God."


If we spend time to inventory the miracles that happen in our lives - we will give praise to God. We will realize that our Lord God who loves us, who protects us, and who provides for us is there when we need Him - at the right time. Indeed, our life will definitely be less complicated if we just trust our Lord God in everything. And to realize too that God is also in control of everything. Unfortunately, the vision of many of us as to the role of our Lord God in our life is blurred. Many of us want to do things our own way ignoring God's promises and warnings in the Holy Bible. Forgetting that "the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. (Psalm 145:18)


Let me share to you a story that illustrates God's protection for His people. This is a story from a book by Strand.

"The crack British express train raced through the night, its powerful head lamp spearing the darkness ahead. This was special run because it was carrying Queen Victoria and her attendants.

"Suddenly... the engineer saw a startling sight! Revealed in the powerful beam of the engine's headlights was a weird figure loosely wrapped in a black coat that was flapping in the breeze, standing on the middle of the train tracks, waving its arms, a signal stop! The engineer immediately grabbed for the brakes and brought the train to a screeching, grinding, sparks-flying halt!

"Then the engineer, his assistant, the coal tender, and a couple of conductors climbed down to see what had stopped them. They looked, but they could find no trace of the strange figure. But on a hunch, the engineer walked a few yards further down the tracks. Instantly he stopped and stared into the fog in horror! The rain storm, which passed through the area earlier in the evening, had caused the bridge to wash out in the middle span and it had toppled into the storm-swollen stream! If he had not paid attention to the ghostly, weird figure, the train would have plunged into the overflowing stream...with, how many lives lost or bodies mangled, who knows? The engineer was so overcome with the emotion of the near- miss that he sat down on the tracks for a few moments before making his way back to the idling steam engine.

"Word was wired help. And while the bridge and tracks were being repaired, the crew again made a more intensive search for the strange flagman, unsuccessfully. But it wasn't until they got to London that the mystery was solved."

"At the base of the steam engine's head lamp, the engineer discovered a huge dead moth. He looked at it a few moments... then, on impulse, wet its wings and pasted it to the glass of the head lamp."

"Climbing back into the cab.. he switched on the lamp and saw the "flagman" in the beam. He knew the answer now, the moth had flown into the beam mere seconds before the train was due to reach the washed-out bridge. In the fog it had appeared to be phantom figure, a flagon waving its arms signaling the train to stop!"

"Later when Queen Victoria was told of the strange happenings she said, "I'm sure it was no accident. It was God's way of protecting us."


This story of the strange flagman illustrates clearly God's intervention in the lives of people to showcase His care, compassion and concern for us. A touch of His love. A touch of His providence. Hopefully, this story will increase our faith and trust in our Lord God. Faith is believing and not waivering at the promises of God. Faith is being fully convinced without any doubt that what God has promised in the Holy Bible He is able to perform. Let us remember that faith honors God and God honors faith.

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