Polar Express

The story of the Polar Express is a holiday classic. It is about a young boy who is on a mission to prove that Santa Claus is, in fact, real. He wanted a silver bell to prove that Santa did indeed exist!

Late one night as the young boy was lying in his bed, he heard the sound of hissing steam and squeaking metal. It sounded just like a train! To the boy's amazement a train stopped right in front of his house and the conductor signaled for him to come aboard. Once onboard the boy joined a group of children already there and they began to sing Christmas carols during the train ride. The conductor appeared to the boys and told them that the elves were gathering in the city. "That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas to one of you", he stated. Excitedly, the children scurried off the train. They made their way to an area by Santa's sleigh. " Let's have this fellow here", said Santa pointing to the boy. "What would you like for Christmas" he asked?. The boy told him the one thing he really wanted was a silver bell from his sleigh. Santa then signaled one of his elves to cut a bell from a reindeer's harness. This was the first gift of Christmas! As the clock struck midnight Santa hopped into his sleigh and disappeared in the sky. The children then settled back onto the train and rushed over to the boy and asked to see the bell. He reached in his pocket and felt only a hole. He had lost the bell! The train was already moving so the bell was gone forever. When the train reached the boy's house he waved goodbye, sadly.

The next morning the boy opened his presents and when it looked to him like everything had been opened, he realized there was still one more small box. It was the silver bell. A note read "Get that hole in your pocket fixed", Mr. C. He shook the bell and heard a magical ring. His parents said, "That's too bad its broken". He then realized that only those who truly believe in Santa could hear the magical ringing.

When I first read this story and thought about how I could relate it to my faith, the first thing that came to mind was the apostle, Thomas. He had not been present when Christ had visited the other apostles after His resurrection, so he did not believe them when they told him Jesus had appeared to them. He also stated that he would never believe that Christ had returned to them until he could put

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