I can bet there are many people that see a train heading down the tracks or when they are holding you up at a crossing imagining, “Where is that train going?” “Where do those tracks lead to?” or “What does life at the end of tracks really like?”

I no longer will look at a BNSF train in the same way again. I would always look for our son-in-law engineer Geoff on every BNSF train I came across. I saw him a few times in his years with Burlington Northern. I was incredibly proud that my “son” took on the title of engineer. It was cool as a kid to think of “driving” a train. Lucky Geoff actually achieved that cool experience. Now knowing I will not get a chance to catch his grin or just a glimpse of his hat in the engine of the train is simply heartbreaking. Hearing his two-year-old son Isak get excited every time he hears a train when it goes through Larimore is heartwarming but then heartbreaking in the same breath. Daddy will not take his son to the train and show it off. All he has now are the keys to the train from his dad.

These tracks this morning were breathtaking with the sun shining on them. I sat there for a bit and took in the beauty of some simple metal. The clouds and sun mixed above them and they all met off in the horizon. Where was the point they met on the horizon? Was it as peaceful there as it was as I sat and soaked in the beauty of that moment along the road?

My hope is that wherever your tracks are taking you in life today you are finding peace, joy, and something simply breathtaking. As we have learned in the past month in losing Geoff you simply do not know what life is going to throw your way but you have a choice; run from it or run to it. From this point we know our lives will never be the same but we also know we will all be brave. We will find that peace and joy on the tracks of our lives.