train whistles and bugle boys

As I lay in bed last night I could hear the distant blast of a train whistle (such a gentle word for such a strong sound.) It made me think of how the Lord's return will be announced with the sound of a trumpet (1 Cor 15:52 is one reference to this.) And the whole idea of being changed in an instant - IF you know that call.

As I lay there pondering the idea of our Lord's return I thought back to a movie we had watched earlier in the week. The name of the movie is In Pursuit of Honor and is a fiction that claims to be based on a true story. (I digress but must add that my husband and I researched the story and there is no proof anywhere that this is a true story.... not a bad movie but it just isn't true. But again, I digress.)

The movie is set during the time when McArthur was pushing for our military to be more mechanized and less dependent on the cavalry. Other countries were using tanks and in USA there were less than 10 tanks in the entire military. Supposedly in an effort to reduce the cavalry, McArthur is claimed to have ordered 500 horses be retired and taken across the Mexican border where they were "disposed of." They were shot and killed. Because they had served our country, some of the soldiers decided this was just not acceptable, felt the horses deserved to at least be set free and so they stole the horses and proceeded to take them up to Canada where they could run free without danger of being shot.

What was interesting in this story was how the horses were trained to respond to the blowing of a horn. Theoretically if a soldier was separated from his horse in battle, he could blow a horn and the horse would return. When one of the soldiers blew the horn all the horses heads lifted up, they began to stir and soon they were running in full force toward the sound of that horn. It was really pretty cool to see. It's how they led the horses across the country from Mexico to Canada.

As I lay in bed thinking about this movie, I wondered if that is a similar picture of what it will be like when we, God's chosen people, hear the trumpet call. Will we hear it? Will we respond? I think if it were late at night and all was quiet I'm sure we would hear it. But just like the train whistles during the day aren't heard above the noise and din of the day, is my life so filled with noise in my heart that I might miss that call? I would think not - of course. I belong to Him. But it made me realize.... I want to hear it and the sooner the better. I'm anxious to go home. I'm ready to see Jesus. I miss my mom. I have a baby up there I've never held.

And now, like never before, I'm listening for that horn.