Why the Destination Matters

When my family watched The Polar Express for the first time, it was not what I expected.

I could write several posts on different plot themes and characters. One line from the movie was on the right track (no pun intended): “Sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” As if taken directly from 2 Corinthians 4:18. We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. The invisible is not insignificant.

Another line was full of red flags: “One thing about trains: It doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on.” It sounds so profound, but it’s so wrong!

This reminded me of a line from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. At one point in the story, Alice comes to a fork in the road and meets a Cheshire cat. She asks what road she should take. “Where do you want to go?” he replies. “I don’t know,” she answers. “Then,” says the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

What does this have to do with The Polar Express? It’s about our destination. Whether about trains or about life, it matters where we’re going because it matters where we’ll end up.

If we think of these trains as worldviews, “climbing aboard” is suddenly significant. Every worldview, every value system, every religion and belief will take us somewhere. Ideas have consequences, and we may not like them. It’s worth inspecting the train before getting on. I know many people and you may as well who did the proper inspecting of Christianity and weren’t disappointed. The train may have hit some bumps along the way, but it stayed on the track. Some trains have gone off cliffs!

One thing about trains: It absolutely matters where they’re going. What also matters is deciding to get on. We look at the destination. We look at others we’ll be joining on the trip. We thoughtfully consider. The simple believe anything; the prudent give thought to their steps (Prov. 14:15). When we decide to follow Jesus, there’s “no turning back, no turning back.”

I live across from a train track. Often the house shakes. I can hear the whistle as I write and the cars rolling by. Every train is going somewhere.

An interesting part of The Polar Express is its central theme or message of “believe.” Choosing any train requires some amount of belief, and it matters what we choose, because it matters where we’re going.

Choosing the track of Santa and the North Pole makes for an interesting children’s film, but we all know it’s make-believe. (Isn’t that an interesting word? What is make-believe? When we believe what we make.)

Choosing the track of Christ, on the other hand, we won’t be disappointed. There will never be a broken bridge; I’ve been going for ten years and haven’t regretted it yet. We can believe His promise and sing His praise. His track leads where no other does, and He has gone to prepare a place for us, so that where He is, we may also be (Jn. 14:3).