“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
(1 John 5:20)
When you walked through the front door you were met with train tracks that lead into the gym which was decorated to look like the North Pole. The tracks lead to different stations throughout the "North Pole" like "Candy Land" with all sorts of candies, a place to decorate your own gingerbread man or woman, a face painting station, tables filled and over flowing with cupcakes, a hot chocolate station, bouncy houses and slides, etc... it was a kids dream. They also got to meet Santa face to face. When he called out their names they came up and he gave them a gift from his bag and a big silver bell, just like the one in the movie. It was so neat. The kids faces said it all.
It was a great night, but what I remembered most was, when the children arrived. They came in with big smiles and a ticket in hand that had been mailed to them, it was a golden ticket that looked like the one that the "real" Polar Express gave out. They would get their ticket punched and then be able to go into the "North Pole" free to roam, no holds barred, no limits, just fun, food and Santa. But first the ticket punch, that's where I came in...I got the honor of being the conductor. I got to punch the tickets and show the children where to go have fun. As they filed through one little boy walked in and realized that he didn't have his ticket, he hadn't received one in the mail. He wasn't going to be able to make it and his name was left off the list, but at the last minute he was able and was truly looking forward to it. When I found out he had no ticket I sent one of our "elves" (Youth) to get him a ticket like everyone else because they punched there ticket at each station, but to my horror the "elf" returned with no ticket, there were no extras!!! When the little boy heard that there were no tickets, he hung his head (with or without a ticket, he would have gotten in, just hated to see everyone with one and him not.), broke my heart...so I dropped down on one knee and with my hand on his shoulder I whispered in his ear, "Go on in, and when you get to each station, tell them that you know the conductor and they will fix you up." He smiled the biggest smile and took off. Later that night, some of the volunteers at the stations said that when you would go to punch his ticket, he would proudly say, "I know the conductor"!
Do you know the conductor, do you know Jesus? You don't need a ticket to get into Heaven, but you do need to know Him.
Vern
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