ZEAL

On Aug. 7, 1994, a 5,200-horsepower locomotive pulled twenty-four cars from Chicago to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and back. On board the train were 846 passengers. the passengers weren't in a hurry to reach their destination, though, because their interest was not in travel per se but in the train. Most were members of the National Historical Railway Society.

Powering this train was a Class J, No. 611 steam locomotive. Steam locomotives may sound very old fashioned but they are very powerful. In fact some of the old steam locomotives were more powerful than three modern diesel locomotives.

The heart of their power, of course, is steam. Steam "is water turned to gas," writes Kate Eaton.

You may think you see it above your whistling tea kettle or on your bathroom mirror, but that's not it. Steam is the clear vapor between the hot water and the visible mist. As it forms, at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, it expands to take up much more space than its liquid state. This explosive expansion, harnessed in a giant locomotive, is what powered 250-ton engines pulling 20 or more railcars through the Blue Ridge Mountains, across the Great Plains and over the desert of the west. "It's a powerful force," said Robert Pinsky, of the Railroad Society.
Just as steam gives power to a locomotive, so zeal gives power to a believer. The more we boil with zeal for Christ, the more power we have for service.

Complacency, Ministry, Passion, Service
John 2:17; Rom. 12:11
 
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