Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac . I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day . So grab your cup of coffee , sit back , relax and let me help you start your day right .
In Austria , back in the early 1800s , the very first railway of its kind was built up through an area called the Simmering Pass . Now , there were a couple things that made this railway unique . First of all , they decided to build it using the standard width of tracks .
Up until this time , mountain trains always ran on a narrow width of track in order to allow them to be maneuverable enough to get to where they wanted to go , particularly with all the twists and turns and some of the very steep climbs . But for this particular railway , they wanted to make sure it could handle the standard railway cars and locomotives .
The second thing that made this so unique and so difficult was that this was an extremely steep slope that the train would have to climb Over a length of 25 miles .
The elevation changed more than 1,500 feet , and there were no engines built at that point in time that could pull a full load up a slope like that while also being able to maneuver the very tight curves that there would have to be in the building of this railway .
The builders of the railway decided they weren't going to let the lack of a locomotive stop them from construction . In 1848 , they began building the railway and over the next six years they employed some 20,000 workers to build this railway from Glognitz to Mürgeslug .
There was a lot of celebration when the railway was completed , but they still had the problem of not having a locomotive that could pull a train up through this track and be able to handle the curves . So a competition was held . The first four entrants all had the power and maneuverability .
Completion of the railway that finally , the Engereth locomotive was developed and within a year there were 16 engines available for use on this railway . Actually , this railway is still in use and it's said to be one of the most beautiful train trips in all of Europe . It's one that I wouldn't mind doing sometime , that's for sure .
One that I wouldn't mind doing sometime , that's for sure . The thing that amazes me the most is that the builders decided to proceed and build the railway even before they knew that there would be a locomotive that could do the job for them . That really is amazing .
We all have things that we are praying for and believing for where we don't know how it's going to take place . We don't know how the results or the action or the answer is going to come to us . We just pray , lord , we need this answer , we need this direction from you .
Sometimes we try to give him advice and that doesn't work because he doesn't really want or need our advice . But what he does want from us is he wants our faith to believe in him , that , even when we can't see the answer or figure out ourselves how it's going to be , he wants us to put our faith and our trust in Him .
You see what these engineers and builders did as they were building this railway . They could already see in their minds the locomotives that were going to be pulling trains up along these tracks , around the corners , up the very steep hills , up over the top and into the places where it needed to go . They already saw that before it became a reality .
In the book of Hebrews , chapter 11 , verse 1 , it says Faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things that we long for . It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen . The Bible tells us that our hopes and our faith work together in combination .
We have faith for what we hope for , but we need to make sure we have a good understanding of what hope means . Hope is not a hope I get a new bicycle for Christmas Like if it's a maybe that this might happen . The Greek word there for hope actually means to look forward to with expectation .
Your hope means that you are expecting that something is going to happen , and that's why it combines so well with our faith . This is not trying to force God to do anything .
God will not be forced into any situation but what it does do is makes a statement about our faith in God , our trust in God that we can expect that he will answer us , that he is powerful enough to do what needs to be done , to provide , to guide , to heal , to strengthen , to direct and whatever takes place along that path .
We know that all things work together for His good and we trust Him with that . When we express our hopes and our faith , we are revealing our deepest desires , our deepest expectations and needs , and God will work in those things in our lives . God wants us to dream big . He wants us to believe that he can do the impossible .
Keep believing God for something that you cannot see , that you need to see the answers in , whether it be a healing or direction or provision . Whatever it is that you need from that you need to see the answers in , whether it be a healing or direction or provision .
Whatever it is that you need from God it's believing that God is able to , and you put your faith in him , trusting , expecting that God will work it out somehow . Let God bless you , let God strengthen you , let God give you the hope that you need to be able to live that life of faith . Be blessed , my friends . We'll talk again tomorrow .
Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday , right here on Starting Right , with Danny Mac .