Bullet Train

When it’s completed, the controversial high-speed train from London to Birmingham will zip up the country and deposit travellers, in record time, into a brand-new train station. Great, if you’re planning to remain in Birmingham. If, however, your journey continues from Birmingham, you’ll have to pick up your bags and find your way to the old station to connect with the run-of-the-mill train services.

Spiritual journeys can start on a high-speed ‘train’. Responding to an anointed evangelist, who has facilitated a personal encounter between you and God, can be like a high-speed train ride, taking you right out of where you were and into a whole new territory, instantly. Making connections for the onward journeys, however, are not that straight-forward. It’s one thing to be carried along on a bullet train to God, and quite another to find the way to continue that journey through all the trials and ups and downs of daily life. You need to find a faith community where you feel called to fit in. At the very least, you need a prayer partner to keep you chugging along, especially through challenging terrain in your life.

God has richly blessed me and I am full of thankfulness and praise. I inadvertently found myself on that bullet train to God over forty years ago. I was nurtured by believers from all churches, prayed with and prayed for, taught and inspired. Marguerite was a special one to me in those early days. Prayer was her ‘thing’ and she helped me find the joy in spending time with God. She helped me keep moving forward until I found the next station and could continue my journey with others. I couldn’t begin to name all those others who have been special to me in this place, where I have lived for over forty years, for fear I might leave someone out. There have been many.

As Psalm 16 says, the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. I don’t take this for granted. I am profoundly grateful.