I heard this story once and thought it was a great picture of how God gave us His Son.

     There was a couple who had always longed to have children, but never was greeted with success. One sunny morning the wife ran into her husband, and with glass like tear drops trickling down her supple cheek, she said, "We are going to have a baby!"

     The two were overcome by the joy of the news. They went and told everyone. Even the strangers they passed on the street were embraced, as if dearest of friends.

     The time finally arrived when the baby would be born. The parents hearts were dancing with expectation. The child their hearts had so desired, would soon be in their arms. The child did indeed come!!! It was a BOY!!!  And they were even more elated than they had expected.

     He was the love of their lives. He brought a smile to everyone's face. But it was his father that treasured him most. He was the apple of his eye. His father would do anything for him. He would simply look at his son, and his heart would melt, like warm butter.

     The boy grew, and became strong. No longer was he an infant but a "big" boy, about five years of age. He loved to go to work with his father. He worked with the railroad. It filled him with such delight to watch all the locomotives come and go.  

     One day the father had been called on, for an emergancy. a passenger train was on its way, but the bridge was out. The leaver, to switch the track had been jammed. So, with all his might he ran to the bridge.

     He quickly poured oil onto the leaver...but still it would not give. After much force and effort, he realized that the only way to keep it switched was to hold it down until the train passed safely by. It seemed that it was going to work out just fine...until...he looked up. There standing on the tracks was his SON!!! He had followed his daddy. The father had not noticed until that moment. In his loudest, most desparate voice, he called out to his son. But the child could not hear the urgant beckoning of his father, for the train was too loud.

     At that moment the father had a choice to make. He could save his beloved son, which meant death for hundreds upon the train, or sacrifice his only son. In those few seconds which seemed to last for an eternity, he decided.

     With all of his weight and strength he had left in him he bore down on the leaver. With tears flooding his eyes and pain gripping his heart, he looked up at the people, whom he had just saved. There sat a man reading a news paper, an elderly lady sipping on a cup of coffee, a teen talking on their cell phone, children staring out the window. They had not even noticed the extreme sacrifice which had just been given for them. Life, as the knew it... was ten minutes late, due to a "small" glitch with the tracks.

     Do not allow salvation to pass you by, without saying thank you. This story is not true, but in the same since it was not easy for the Father to give up His Son. Jesus was the ultimate Sacrifice!!! And it was His pleasure.

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2