Toot! Toot!

I was born in Danville, IL, in 1925 and lived there until 1935 when Dad move Mom, me and my

two sisters to Wallace, IN, where Dad grew up. In Danville we lived most of the time very close

to the C&EI railroad tracks and heard train whistles day and night. After 1929 those were the

Depression days and Dad worked hard to provide for us, working for a wholesale grocery house and at one time out traveling for a couple of days or so on the road each week. Well, there were lots of "hobo Willies" traveling, too ... up and down the railroads ... and Mom was afraid those nights when Dad was away. So the lonesome "toot" of those big steam locomotives instilled in me a sad, woeful feeling when- and wherever I heard them. Living in Wallace, 9 miles from the

closest railroad, gave me some respite, but in winter we often could heard the whistle even that

distance. Serving in the Navy in WWII and making several train trips, however, awakened that

sorrowful feeling again, especially when returning to base after a leave. Right after discharge

in spring of 1946 I headed over to IL with my friend Kenny to meet with another old buddy to

celebrate the occasion. Kenny was driving his cool Ford Model A (real muscle car - ha!) west on highway 136 alongside a railroad track and I was chatting away with him from the passenger seat, totally absorbed, when we heard a loud sound that TO ME sounded exactly like TRUMPET announcing the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:51,52)! And I wasn't

ready to meet Him! I went silent, the hair stood up on my neck, and Kenny asked me what was

wrong. I had no answer ... then. Guess it was the teaching of our Youth teacher who had had

some training at Moody Bible Institute and the truth of the imminent Coming of Christ had been

embedded in my sub-conscious! By the way, coming home that night after too much "celebrating" we flipped the Ford over and I got a nice gash on my forehead. God used that "toot" and the trauma to make me think about eternity and, as stated before, after a few weeks

of conviction, including that little farm gal witnessing to me, I received the Lord as my Saviour.

Now we have diesel locomotive whistles within a mile of our "Super 80" residence, and I do get

momentarily "blue" on hearing them, UNTIL I remember that sound may NOW be announcing

the Rapture and I'm ready, praise the Lord! I prayer every reader is ready, too.