Two Soldiers, Same Destination
Story★★★★lwo Soldiers Walter B. Knight tells about two soldiers traveling by train at the end of World War II. One had spent more than three years in the South Pacific, and now was returning to his father, mother, friends, and sweetheart. All were waiting for him at the station in Chicago, and his eagerness could hardly be contained.
“How fast are we traveling?” he asked the porter. “How far are we from Chicago? We can’t get there too quickly for me.” On the same train another serviceman sat in the same coach.
His face looked like a blown-out lamp, a picture of gloom and dejection. He was in handcuffs and in the charge of military police. He was not eager to reach his destination, for nothing awaited him but judgment and punishment.
Two men on the same train bound for the same destination-one eager for reunion, the other dreading judgment. 1 1 From a clipping in my files. 2 Paul Harvey, For What It’s Worth, ed. By Paul Harvey, Jr. (New York: Bantam Books, 1991), 129.
The point
Two soldiers returning from WWII aboard the same train are contrasted: one eagerly anticipates reunion with loved ones, the other dreads judgment and punishment, illustrating the two destinies of humanity at Christ's return.