I remember when my sister last came to visit us whilst we lived in Somerset. It was for the first time in years. Now Elizabeth and Olivia are trouble when together, and enjoyed the time mostly by constant talking, and of course planning all kinds of wonderful but mad adventures for the future. A good time was had by all, with me retreating to the garden for some peace. It was like having two eight and half year-old girls chattering and oblivious to anything remotely serious and grown up.
When the time came for Olivia to leave on the bank holiday Monday, we ventured to the railway station to await her train. On arrival the girls took a seat on the platform, still talking and unaware to the things I thought necessary to be considered for the imminent journey.
Is this the right platform, have you your tickets, your phone? What carriage are you in? These were just some of the things that I would be finding the answers to before I sat down. The station was, as usually expected, busy for a bank holiday afternoon, with three trains arriving in the station within a period of fifteen minutes. It was therefore important to be on the right platform, and around the right space on the platform, where the carriage she was traveling in would be likely to stop.
The right platform, and train, would ensure that the journey would be the correct one undertaken. Amongst so many people, the best place on the platform would ensure entry to the train would be just that little bit easier to achieve. I studied the electronic information boards, ticket, and platform markings, confirming that we were in just about the right place for the correct train and carriage……and the girls just continued to talk oblivious to the need for any of these things to be done. They had handed over care and responsibility for the journey to me, trusting that I would ensure that all would be well.
As I waited, I watched one of the high-speed trains glide quietly into the station. I have to say it was a thing of beauty. Streamlined and futuristic magnificent, designed coachwork and lines. I was amazed at just how far trains have developed, but then again trains have not sparked my interest and imagination in the past few years. The ‘Station Master’ Martin, from my church, would have been so pleased at my thoughts, sensing a possible conversion moment.
You know that all our journeys undertaken in life require trust to be placed in another. In this case the driver of the train, or myself ensuring that the start of the journey was correct. Perhaps rail staff to give assistance, information, and direction. Once the train had left the station, with my sister onboard, my responsibility ended, and was passed to another. During the relevant changes of trains, she managed to end up on a wrong train, but still somehow arrived at the correct destination, and just an hour or so later than planned. You see God was watching closely that day.
To put one’s trust in God requires faith, and also confidence, that all our journeys are the correct ones. We may sometimes end up travelling by a slightly different route than the one we intended. With God in the equation, we will always arrive at God’s intended destination, but with diversions, and different encounters and experiences, that we had not originally envisaged.
There are so many different experiences, events, and ideas that we face in any given journey that we only remember, or pay attention to, the ones that touch a story that is rooted in our own narrative and understanding. Some of our early encounters of pain and trauma become the stories that we often use to make sense out of the rest of our lives. Some of our experiences of joy and blessing, on the other hand, will also become stories through which we give meaning to other things that happen to us.
I do like the verse from Judges 18:6 “And the priest said to them, ‘Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord’.” It is such a comfort, and a strength, to know that God is present with you now, at this very instant, whatever you are doing and wherever you are going. That all will be well….hold on to that! And in the case of my sister….I smile that God was forced to have both eyes open that day! Stay safe and well… Craig.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-way-working-life-work-journey-cecile-alper-leroux/v