Jim's Devotional - November 12

For this day let’s look at a story concerning the power of the mind and fear. This story is supposed to be true.

“Some time ago a man got trapped in a boxcar. He worked in a boxcar and didn't realize that somebody, the other workman, was coming by. As he worked inside the boxcar, another workman came by and - not realizing this gentleman was inside - rolled the door, shut it, latched and locked from the outside. The man on the inside knew about boxcars - he worked on them all the time. He knew that this door was locked now until the next day when the workman comes to open it and load the car for shipment. He also knew that if nobody came before tomorrow to open up to get him out of there, he would be dead before the next day when it would ordinarily be open. The reason he would be dead is because that was a refrigerator boxcar, and on the top of the boxcar was a refrigeration unit blowing cold air into that
thing.

Now it is sealed, it is closed. The temperature started to lower and before anybody would come, he's convinced he would be dead. He panicked, as many of us would if we believed we are now trapped inside a boxcar that is going to kill us. He began to scream, scratch and kick the door trying to get out. He tried to get up to the ceiling trying to get that thing shut off, or some way to find the way out. There was no way out. The unit was running, and the door was locked. In frustration and exhaustion, he dropped to
the floor of the car.

The reason we know as much as we do about the situation inside is that at this point, he reached and pulled out a pen and started to write some thoughts on the floor of the boxcar. He wrote some things about family and various things I guess you and I would write if we were trapped in that situation. But throughout his writing were several key phrases. The first one was: "It's getting so cold inside." A little later on he wrote: "My hands are turning numb it is so cold." A little bit later on he wrote: "If I could just
go to sleep." That's the last thing the person does before they freeze to death. And the last phrase was "These may well be my last words" - and the writing trailed of. The next day workmen came opening up cars to inspect them for a loading that particular day. Workmen came, grabbed the lock on the outside, rolled the door back and saw the body of the dead man on the floor of that boxcar. The authorities were called, the body was taken, and autopsy performed because of the strange circumstances surrounding that incident. Under autopsy every physical sign of his body said he froze to death. What he did not know however is that the refrigeration unit on top of that boxcar was broken and only the fan was blowing the air. It was not subzero air being pumped into that car; it was
outside air simply being circulated. He did not suffocate. The temperature outside that night never dropped below fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit. He did not freeze to death - he killed himself by the power of his mind and fear.”