The Train Driver was reminiscing and with his eyes on the floor he began his story quietly. “As a call-boy we would work three different shifts, seven hours sixteen minutes per shift, forty-four minute meal break, eleven days per fortnight. On night shift we were kept pretty busy, we had about thirty calls to make and with a big wheat lift on you didn’t stop all night. The shift would start at eleven p.m. and finish at seven a. m. with a meal break somewhere in between.
“The streets were very quiet in the early hours of the morning, not a soul in sight except for the milkman doing his rounds and the garbage contractors banging and crashing their way through the night. But ever present were the mighty Highway Patrol and the fearless boys in blue. They’d be waiting on some dark street corner to catch an unsuspecting call-boy without a red light on the back of his bike.
“I was caught out on many a night, the boys in blue would ask me my name and where I lived who I worked for and I’d be given a great lecture on dangers of riding a bike without a rear red light. Then I’d be sent on my way. The crew would be called late and I would have some explaining to do. I suppose the local police were only doing their job and it was probably the most exciting thing they did all night on their patrols in a quiet country town.
“Sometimes it would develop into a cat and mouse game. I’d spot the Highway Patrol car a few blocks away coming down the road towards me. I needed an escape route quick. I would dart up the nearest back lane pedalling as hard as I could. The lane would end near a park and with a set of headlights slowly closing in, the park would be my last hope.
“It was a good place to hide, plenty of large trees and not many lights. The Highway Patrol car would circle the park a couple of times and disappear up a side street. I’d make my way back to the depot using all the back streets that I possibly could and as I rounded the last corner near the depot gates there would be the Highway Patrol car, engine running.
“I was finally caught in Operation Dragnet.”
Operation Dragnet gives plenty of warnings but ultimately, we too, are charged with breaking the law.
Filled with repentance we turn to look at the law and standing between us and our accuser is the Son of God. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1st Timothy 1:150, and He says, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’ (Mark 2:17).
Aren’t you glad you are one of the saved and called?
Elizabeth Price