Some of you are old enough to remember when Jackie Robinson broke into baseball. He was a tremendous player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the first black man to don a major league uniform. Jackie Robinson once told of some excellent advice he received from Branch Rickey, former President of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He received this advice the same day Rickey asked him to take this historic step — knowing there could be trouble up ahead.
Rickey said to him, “You know, Jackie, I was a small boy when I took my first train ride. On the same train was an old couple, also riding for the first time. We were going through the Rocky Mountains. The old man sitting by the window looked forward and said to his wife, ‘Trouble ahead. Ma! We’re high up over a precipice and we’re gonna run right off.’
“To my boyish ears,” said Rickey, “the noise of wheels repeated ‘Trouble-ahead trouble ahead… ‘ I never hear train wheels to this day but what I think of this. But our train course bent into a tunnel right after the old man spoke, and we came out on the other side of the mountain. That’s the way it is with most trouble ahead in this world, Jackie — if we use the common sense and courage God gave us. But you’ve got to study the hazards and build wisely…
“God is with us in this, Jackie,” Mr. Rickey said quietly. “You know your Bible. It’s good, simple Christianity for us to face realities and to recognize what we’re up against… We’ve got to fight out our problems together with tact and common sense.”(1)
Branch Rickey gave Jackie Robinson some good advice. God is with us. Faith in His promises gives us confidence in our future. The light at the end of the tunnel is not an on-coming train. It is the light of God’s glory.
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1. John Haggai, WINNING (New York: Inspirational Press, 1991).