The Train Ride

When I was a child my dad would set up the most elaborate electric train platform.  It was huge with multiple track layouts and little buildings, trees, streetlights, etc.  I remember that one of the excitements was watching as the train would quickly switch tracks by the push of a small lever under my dad's direction.  You were sure you knew where that train was headed when suddenly it veers off to another part of the platform.  My oldest son has the same love of trains that his grandfather had and we would visit phenomenal train shows with very complex configurations.  Collisions seemed eminent when almost magically, the trains angled away from one another.  Recently I have begun to feel as if I were a passenger on one of those trains with God as my engineer, suddenly redirecting me just when I thought I knew where I was headed.  Can you relate?

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not upon your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.  Did you happen to notice that telling you ahead of time is not part of that scripture?  He will direct my paths - He will put the train on the tracks that it needs to go in order to accomplish His plans for my life which are ultimately for the benefit of the kingdom.  A critical element in this scenario is that I need to stay on the train if I am going to go where He wants.  I can't get frustrated and jump off the train mid-journey.  Just picture the ramifications of that decision.  Pain (jumping off a moving train is never a good idea), confusion (not having a clue where you are as the train disappears in the distance), isolation (leaving the comfort of His company on the train) just to name a few.

I have written several times in this blog space about waiting, about wilderness walking, about the seasons of our lives.  As I penned those articles, I had a sense that these were temporary times through which to persevere.  What if that is not true?  What if we are indeed on the spiritual train that I have just described with God eagerly awaiting our willingness to be a passenger on His train through life headed towards eternity with Him?  Consider with me the times in your life when out of the blue, life changed.  This includes everything ~ relationship changes, job changes, geographic relocation, church affiliations, births and deaths ~ and this is just a sampling.  Many times these changes come totally unexpected.  I know that I never anticipated I would be divorced.  Yet when it happened, everything about my life changed in the blink of an eye.  Nothing would ever be the same again with anyone in my life including my sons.  However, I hung onto the safety rails in my train car as I barreled toward the future and towards eternity with Him.

Psalm 56:10-11  I praise God for what He has promised; yes I praise the Lord for what He has promised.  I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?  What can mere mortals do to me?  If I truly trust Him then I must believe in the deepest part of me that He has got me; that He is the one directing this train and its course.  No matter what I may feel emotionally,  He is not going to let me train wreck.  However we must understand that ending up in a totally different place than we anticipated does not define a train wreck.  Sometimes (many times) our plans are not His plans and when our plans go awry we begin to attach negative interpretations to the situation.  In these cases we often need to look back and determine whether we sought His counsel before moving forward.  Was there a chance that we had moved ourselves into the engine of the train and tried to force the train into our personal direction?

I don't want this message to reflect a belief that goals and life objectives are negative.  Quite the contrary, I believe that most of us are more at peace when we are focusing on forward movement in our lives.  Imagine yourself sleeping in a berth on the train the entire time it is moving versus engaging in the trip with the other passengers, being keenly aware of all that is happening inside and outside the train, being ready at the various stops along the way to explore the local environment.  That is the difference between passively coming along for the ride and actively submitting yourself to the direction of the engineer.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.  God does indeed have good things for us to do.  From the beginning of time itself, He knew what He wanted us to accomplish.  However, it is not enough for God to want us to step into these plans; we have to want to step into them with Him.  He gave us the choice to follow Him and participate in the plans He has for our lives or to walk away from Him and risk the ramifications of that decision (much like jumping off the moving train).  The choice to follow His lead is multi-dimensional and can lead to the most amazing journey full of surprises both challenging and delightful.  If we make a decision that this train ride is not for us even though we believe that God is the ultimate engineer, then we risk living a very one dimensional life and facing an eternity without the indescribable joy that awaits us. 

Whether I am in the midst of the train ride or at one of the many stops along the way, I am beginning to recognize that the experience of living life with God is much more fluid than I had previously understood.  I like this concept that the "seasons of wilderness or waiting" are simply times when the train is racing through the desert and there is not a lot happening either inside the passenger car or outside its windows.  It is a time to sit back, breathe deeply and explore the possibilities of what is awaiting me around the next hillside.  I trust my engineer.  I trust my Lord.  I believe Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.