Social Change Caused By Trains

Trains changed everything.

The United States was mostly a vast wilderness with a crowded East Coast and explorers with sporadic settlements across the west. These settlements were isolated and separated from the wealth and resources that the East Coast enjoyed. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, it spanned 1,776-miles and changed the world.

Leland Stanford, a railroad baron, drove a golden spike into the track that would bridge the gap between east and west.

With the creation of railroads across the country, a person no longer would have to trek west for months to reach a destination braving brutal weather, Indian raids, or wild animals. They could simply head to the train station and go directly to their destination. This changed people's concept of time and space.

Going coast to coast used to take 6 months, but the transcontinental railroad could take a person coast to coast in just 4 days.

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"The American experiment (railroad) is the most tremendous and far reaching engine of social change which has ever either blessed or cursed mankind." – Charles Francis Adams Jr railroad reformer and grandson of John Quincy Adams when talking about the railroad.

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The coming of Jesus was also transformative to people's way of life.

Prior to Jesus, there was little access to God. Only a priest, a brave and chosen soul, would make the trip into the Holy of Holies to speak to God. For God to forgive a person of their sins required traveling to the temple, slaughtering animals, along with strict rituals and ceremonies.

God had to be kept separate from us, because He is holy, set a part, perfect, and we are cursed, sinful, and imperfect.

Jesus eliminated the gap between God and man, allowing for a direct connection that was easily accessible to anyone.

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For it is through Him that we both have a [direct] way of approach in one Spirit to the Father. – Ephesians 2:18 (Amp)

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Jesus gave us a gift that would bring us out of our restricted state and above time and space to connect us directly to the Father.

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10 God has shown us these profound and startling realities through His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep mysteries of God. 11 Who can see into a man’s heart and know his thoughts? Only the spirit that dwells within the man. In the same way, the thoughts of God are known only by His Spirit. – 1 Corinthians 2:10-11 (Voice)

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Jesus accomplished this radical social change through dying for us on the cross and paying the punishment for our sins.

He erased our debt of sin so we could be in proximity and relationship to a perfect God. He made us perfect and blameless through His own sacrifice. This was a mission that had been in process since the fall of man.

Jesus completed the it when He cried out, "It is finished."

Just like Leland Stanford bridged the gap from east to west when he drove the golden spike into the ground, so too was the gap between us and God eliminated when a spike was drove into Jesus.

(This is from a book I’ve been dreaming of writing for years, but I haven’t gotten far on. God is like a Train. If you enjoy it be sure to comment so I know you’d like more trains)