I have taught Sunday School for most of my life. I remember the first year I taught a preschool class. Classes were excused for the summer to be resumed in the fall with the beginning of the school year. I wanted to do something special for the four and five year olds. A picnic and party at my house would do the trick. I gave each parent an invitation with the date and location of the event.

Hot dogs, potato chips and Kool-Aid were on the menu. The climax would be the dessert. I found a recipe and decorating instructions for a train cake. There were to be an engine, box cars and a caboose. I would make a car for each child to eat with their ice cream. I worked feverishly the day before, baking and decorating the cake layers. It was my first decorating project and left much to be desired, but I thought the cake looked great. Over the years I have saved just about everything. I should have saved those train directions.

All the children in my class showed up for the party. We played games out in the back yard with small trinkets for the prizes. Then it was time to eat lunch. Their parents would be picking them up in an hour or so. That gave plenty of time for my train cake.

I had each child sit on my patio as I retrieved the individual train cars from the house and placed them on a card table before them. They silently watched me. That was the first time they had been quiet all afternoon. I then brought out the quart of ice cream and cut it into sections, one for each child,. Everyone remained silent.

Was there something wrong? Didn't they like my train cake? As I asked each one of them to come up and select a train car, each one shook their head. No, they didn't want to do that. Finally the tension was broken by one boy said he wanted to take his car home with him. They all noisily agreed. That was the problem. They didn't want to eat their train car. They wanted to keep it. I cut up the engine and we ate that together

There was a lesson there for me. It is so easy to read a situation wrongly. I think of that whenever someone doesn't respond in the way I think they should to something I have said or done. Did they understand what I meant? I would back up the train and explain myself. I didn't want my train to go off track..