Paid In Full

I recently made a trip to Dallas Texas and visited the area for 7 days. It was a pleasant trip, but the temperature was constantly over 100 degrees.

While sitting in my motel room I was reminded of a story I heard years ago about a man and a train ride.

The story is about a man who as a boy loved toy trains and played with them. This love for trains prompted this man to desire to actually ride a train across country. His problem was train tickets were expensive. This desire to ride the train led this man to save money so he could ride the train. This was like his life long mission.

After several years of saving, the day came when he had enough money saved up. He then proceeded to purchase his ticket. After successfully acquiring a ticket he went home and packed clothes for his several days trip across country. This gentleman spent all his savings on his ticket and therefore knew he needed to pack food for this trip. The only thing he could pack was cheese and crackers and nothing else.

The next morning he arrived early at the train station and boarded the train with his luggage. The train slowly starts heading from one coast to the other coast. After several hours on the train, it was lunch time. This gentleman did not come to lunch. Some folks thought he must be sleeping and did not bother him. Later on the train it was time for dinner and they looked to see if this man was going to join them for dinner. The time for dinner came and went and no sign of this man for dinner.

Several other passengers on the train were just occupied with the fact that this man did not come to any of the meals. Some thought he might have been sick, timid, or perhaps he was just arrogant and did not want to be bothered with them.

A lady from this group was tired of speculations and decided she would find out for herself. She went to the cabin the man stayed in and knocked on his door. The man came to the door and said, hello, how can I help you” she replied, we have had several meals and notice that you have not attended any of them. We were concern and wanted to make sure you were okay. The man replied, “Thanks for the concern, but I am okay. I simply spend all my money on the ticket for this trip. I did not have enough to purchase meals and have remained in my cabin eating cheese and crackers”.

The lady looked at him with a perplexed look and said did you not know that the meals were included in the ticket price?

This man is like a number of Christians. They settle for less not understanding that Jesus death on the cross and resurrection covered everything. The price was paid in full for all your needs to be met.