WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?
He had been wondering about it a lot lately. He even wondered why he wondered about it. He would think about it during long drives. Intuitively he believed it has some meaning for him. Otherwise why would he think about?
It began innocently enough many Christmases ago. He's not sure how many. At least 45 years ago he thinks. Maybe it has been as many as 50. That's a long time he thinks. He was with his mother one day, perhaps he was 10 to 12 years old, while she was doing some shopping for Christmas gifts. The small town in which he grew up had no real stores at which gifts could be bought. One could buy some trinkets there and, perhaps a box of chocolate candy. To purchase other things, his mother would sometimes take the train to a larger town some 60 or so miles away. You see, his dad worked on the railroad and consequently the family received "passes" and could take the train to other places without paying a fare. Riding the train was one of his favorite things to do. In fact, he and his friends would sometimes catch the train, pay the conductor a dime, if they had one, and ride about 3 miles to the next stop and walk back. But that’s another story for another time.
This particular shopping day his mother and he had traveled by car to another town some 20 or so miles away. His family didn't own a car and he doesn't remember who they traveled with to the nearby town. They were in the Rexall Drug Store when he noticed a box into which entries could be placed to win a Lionel train. Heck, you didn't even need to buy anything to enter. All you had to do was put your name and phone number on a form of entry and put it in the box. Well, he put his name on the paper and slipped it in the box. Then he put his mother's name on a slip and put it in the box. Then he put his father's name on a slip and put it in the box. Lastly, he put his dog's name on an entry form and put it in the box. He didn't expect to win, but even then he knew something about odds. He figured the more names he placed in the box, the better chance he had of winning. His momma was raising no fool here.
He forgot about the drawing. He settled into his normal routine, which wasn't much of one of course. School during the day. Homework at night. Wearing out the Sears and Alden catalogs looking at things he would like to get as Christmas gifts. Making lists of those gifts, throwing the lists away and making even longer lists. As Christmas neared, it started snowing. He lived in the mountains and it was not unusual to have many inches of snow fall during a snow storm. Salt was not placed on the road in those days. The State Road Crew would scrape the snow off the road and then use either sand or cinders to provide traction. Of course drivers used snow tires and, if necessary, tire chains. It would not be unusual for snow to accumulate on the roads and for snow banks to be on the berms as a result of the snow removal. It was early Christmas Eve afternoon when the phone call came from someone at the Rexall Drug Store. "Kewpie" had won the Lionel train and he or she needed to come to Rexall's before the close of business to pick it up if Kewpie wanted it in time for Christmas. Now, Kewpie was a good ol' dog, but he likely would have a tough time wiring the transformer to the connections on the rails. So, rather than sending Kewpie to pick up his train, Kewpie's master thought it best that he go get it.
Well, the weather was bad that day. It was snowing hard. The wind was blowing hard, causing the snow to swirl and reducing visibility. Snow had accumulated on the roads and had not yet been cleared. The roads were getting a little hazardous. His mother sure wanted to pick up the train so he could have it the next day, Christmas. But for that to happen, she would have to find someone to take her and him to Rexall's Drug Store.
As if by some fortuitous stroke of luck, the next door neighbor's young son, Charles, was home on leave from the Army. Charles was about 22 years old and somewhat of a cocky sort. He wanted to make the Army his career and was rising through the ranks as an enlisted soldier. He had been in the Army 4 or 5 years. As soldiers sometimes do when they are on leave, Charles was celebrating by having some beers that day and doing nothing. After all, he had nothing he really had to do. Just relax and wait for his leave to run and then return to his unit. By having nothing to do, that meant Charles was available to take mother and son to Rexall's Drug Store to get the train set. But mother had a dilemma. She wasn't sure she wanted Charles, who had been drinking, to drive the some 20 or so miles through the bad weather to just to get the train in order to have it by Christmas. After all, it could be picked up anytime. And given the circumstances, bad roads and a driver that had been drinking, perhaps it was best to wait. But the son persisted, and against her better instincts, the mother asked Charles to take them to pick up the train set. Of course, Charles agreed to do it. He had nothing else to do and the beers could stay on ice until he got back.
The trip to and from Rexall's Drug Store was slow and tedious, but it was made without incident. The son had the train in time for Christmas. He put it together for that first Christmas and for several Christmases after that first one. After he went away to college, it wasn't used as much, although he did put it together at least one time during graduate school when he and his wife were celebrating the Christmas season in the small apartment they occupied. He still has the train set. It still works. He put it together for his children a couple of times for display under the tree at Christmas time. He has not yet put it together for his grandchildren, but he thinks he likely will one of these days.
It was in March 1967 that the news came. Charles had been serving in Viet Nam. It was the day before his 33rd birthday when the Jeep in which Charles was riding struck a mine, and he was killed. The incident seems in so many ways unrelated to anything else.
But now the entire story surrounding Charles' gift, in the mid 1950's, of simply doing a kind act to make a young boy's Christmas a bit happier is praying on the mind of that boy, now a man in who is approaching retirement age. Why is he thinking of it now? When he tries to sort it out, he complicates matters even more by juxtaposing Charles' good deed that day with his drinking and even wonders if the fact that Charles had been drinking somehow taints or negates the view that God might have of Charles' kind act somany years ago. So far as he remembers now, Charles was not particularly religious in the sense that that is thought of. Charles married and had two children, a girl and a boy. Charles was away most of the time being posted in different places and ultimately in Viet Nam. So far as is known, Charles and his family did not attend church regularly, but little is known of the strength of his faith. Would God smile favorably on Charles for the seemingly insignificant act of taking the young boy to get the train?
When he tried to put the story in a religious context to get some meaning out of it, he would sometimes think of the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:30-37. But that never quite seemed to fit for him. He even thought of the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32, perhaps because Charles had come home to his family that Christmas season and perhaps because he had been sort of rebellious. But that never quite fit either. Maybe the meaning could be found in the fact that Charles died doing something in which he believed. Sort of a sacrifice for others?
Then one day while driving, the simplicity of the meaning came to him. At least it has given to him some meaning surrounding the story. Perhaps it has other meanings to other people. Whenever he thought of the story of the Good Samaritan, he was focusing too much on the people in the story and their respective roles in it and not on the broader context of the story. Charles' act was simply that of a neighbor doing a neighborly act. And although he had heard it many times, the "love thy neighbor" commandment had not penetrated the complexity he had built into the story in searching for its meaning. Charles had shown a love that day that all are taught to give in Luke 10:27 when Jesus confirmed the lawyer's answer to the lawyer's own question about how to achieve eternal life. He suspects that Charles never thought about the theology embedded in his simple act. Charles knew that if he would help his neighbors he would bring some additional joy to them during the Christmas season, particularly the young kid next door. Wouldn't Charles want someone to do that for him if he needed help that way?
So, at last he has satisfied his craving for some sense to why he had been thinking about these things for so long. Some meaning has been found for him. Love to one's neighbor may be shown in seemingly insignificant acts that later have profound effects. And although more often heard in the context of the Passion lesson and not in the context of the Christmas season, isn't Jesus' instructions to love one another as he loves us one of the central themes of a life that begins with the Christmas story about the birth of a love that would be given as a gift through sacrifice? For the boy with the train, he can now stop wondering. And, he now finds it ironic that he had not noticed before that Charles' two given names were Charles Wesley.
Roy F. Layman
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