A Goody From Woody

Do you know the name of Wilbert Awdry? He was a pastor and served in Wiltshire England. As a little boy he tagged along on pastoral visits with his father who also was a pastor. Wilbert loved riding the train and engaged railroad workers in conversation everywhere he went.

Wilbert was not a great academic student and barely graduated from college. Wilbert was not very successful as a pastor. In fact, he was fired by his church and at that time considered leaving the ministry. He loved God and he loved people.

Something happened to Wilbert when his son Christopher was a child suffering with measles. Because his son was confined to his bed, the pastor amused his son with a story he made up about a little train engine that was sad because he hadn’t been out of his train shed for a long time.

Christopher begged his father to tell him the story over and over again. Wilbert finally wrote the story down and illustrated it with some crude line drawings of trains with faces on them.

Wilbert’s wife, Margaret, saw more in the children’s story than family entertainment. She urged her husband to take the little book to a publisher. Wilbert was shocked that they liked the book and wanted to publish it. The little book called, The Three Railway Engines, was first published in 1945.

Twenty six books about train engines followed—all with different names. Do remember Thomas or Gordon? Edward? Terrence or Bertie? All these stories were about little train engines with different personalities who interacted in very simple, but very human dramas. Every story had a moral lesson. These train engines, like people, had good and bad times. They learned to laugh, love, give and receive. Wilbert always wrote about redemption—taking selfish or sinful actions and getting God’s help to redeem the people.

Wilbert Awdry said of his little train stories, “The important thing is that the engines are punished and forgiven—but never scrapped”.

Even though he was not a successful pastor, Wilbert Awdry took the gospel message of grace and redemption to all the world. Ask any child if they’ve heard of Thomas the Train or Thomas the Tank Engine and you’ll see how successful the pastor really was.

When Wilbert Awdry was asked what he wanted engraved on his tombstone, he said, “He helped people see God in the ordinary things of life…and he made children laugh.” What a legacy! He died in March 1997.

May I ask a probing question of you? What will be your legacy? How will you be remembered? Will you leave a lot of money to your children and friends? Will they remember you as kind and grateful? Will they consider themselves rich (not in money) for being friends with you? We all will leave a legacy. I’ve been thinking about this. I hope you will also.
A final word from St. Paul in Colossians 3:15-17, “Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
God Bless,
Woody