Some of my earliest memories are of my trips to Hornbeck, Louisiana. A trip to Hornbeck may not seem like much to you, but to me, at the time, it was a wonderful trip. Not only did Hornbeck have Jett’s Mercantile, which was packed with all kinds of goodies, it also had the trains.
The trains were still pulled by steam engines in my early years. They would often stop to quench their thirst by guzzling water from the big water tank located next to the track. Then, blowing enough black smoke to give a Sierra Club member cardiac arrest, they would depart in a cloud like the one that descended on Mt. Sinai. For a young boy, it was a religious experience.
Since Hornbeck was not a major terminal on the KCS line, the train did not always stop at the depot. Often, it came barreling through town with only a blast of its marvelous horn. Even when it did not stop, however, they had to exchange the incoming and departing mail. They had a system for doing so. The incoming mail was easy. They simply threw the mail sack off the train where it was retrieved a local worker. Picking up the mail that was leaving town was trickier. This was the part that I liked the best. The depot agent took the sack containing the outgoing mail and strung it up on a pole near the track. The guy on the train (I suppose he was the designated “mail grabberâ€) had a pole with a hook on the end of it. As the train went speeding by, the man on the train extended the pole, hooked the mail sack, and pulled it on board without ever stopping. For pure excitement in Hornbeck, it was hard to top that.
Of course, methods of delivering mail have changed. The only problem is that it often has not speeded up the process. I read of a woman who called the post office to complain about a late letter. She said to the clerk, “You know, back in the days of the Pony Express letters could go from Milwaukee to St. Louis in just two days. Why does it take three days now?†The postal clerk thought about it for a moment and then said, “Well, I’d say the horses are a lot older now.â€
While technology and delivery systems differ today, the important thing is that the messages still must get through. That’s the way it is with the gospel. Things change. Our methods of sharing the gospel are often different. The important thing, however, is that the gospel still needs to be delivered. Are you willing to be part of the delivery system?
