Sermon Central
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The Ice Storm Train (1917)
Contributed by Dr. Bradford Reaves on Dec 4, 2025 (message contributor)
In December 1917, a massive ice storm paralyzed New England. A passenger train froze on the tracks outside Hartford, leaving hundreds stranded in subzero temperatures. The passengers had no food, no heat, and no way home on Christmas Eve. Then something remarkable happened. Families living along the tracks bundled up, walked out into the storm, and climbed aboard the helpless train. They brought hot soup, blankets, lanterns, coffee, bread, and warm clothing. Some even invited strangers—complete strangers—into their homes for the night.
A reporter later wrote: “On that Christmas Eve, there were no empty hands and no empty hearts.”
Christmas reveals a God who comes to the stranded. A God who steps into our helplessness and a God who breaks through the ice and cold of sin and suffering with warmth, light, and rescue.
Just as those families walked into that train, Christ walked into our darkness. Just as they brought warmth, He brings salvation. Just as they came to the stranded, He came to the lost. This is the destiny of the Child.
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