God is Like A Train

i think that God is like a train whistle.

this morning, i was working away, pleasantly loading my trucks, when i heard it. i'd spent the better part of the morning alone, working away to whittle down at the massive stack of cardboard before me, when, as they are prone to do on balmy days such as today, the great big bay-garage doors were flung open to let in the fresh air of the early dawn. and the light. and the sounds.

when i heard it, i instantly recognized it. there was no questioning. i didn't stop suddenly in my tracks to listen to it. but my thoughts and memories were instantly arrested. at that sound, i was freed from the truck that held me captive. at the sound of the train whistle.

all of a sudden, in my minds eye, i was not running back and forth, loading hundreds of pounds of boxes. no, i was nowhere near there. instead, i was standing in my gramie's backyard, looking up at the stars of night, as the distant train whistle blew. then, in the next instant, i was standing at the back of the train, watching dizzily as the tracks receeded into the distance. and then again, camping in the apparently-not-so-wilderness, taking time to breath in the fresh air and relax in His creation, hearing that same train whistle blow.

these visions of my past lasted only for a brief moment, flashing before my mind's eye as clear as the day they happened. but it was long enough to give me an idea. you see, i think God is like that train whistle. in a lot of ways...

the closer you are to the train, the better you hear it. i'm sure i've ignored that same sound millions of times before, but somehow, when i heard it this time, though faint and in the distance, i knew clearly what it was. i'd also be willing to bet that if you were to interview random others who were working nearby me in the same building, few of them would have heard it, much less recall it. it was special to me; i heard it and it meant something to me; reminded me of times in the past when i'd heard it.

more that all that, the thought that struck me most is how that whistle was proof to me, a person caught up in the workings of the world of work, proof that there existed life outside the sphere to which i was confined.

it's easy to get bogged down. forget that there is a greater cause. get so caught up in a todo list that the next task item the only reality i see. it's easy to be lulled into thinking that me and mine in this living, breathing, physical world are 'it'.

until i hear that distant train whistle blow.

'cause it's then that i'm acosted by the realization that my perception of reality has been confined. it's then that i'm given the clarity of view that comes only from accepting as truth the voice heard only by oneself. 'cause it's then, listening to the still small voice of His leading, that i can take confidence in what i know i have to do.

when i hear that distant train whistle blow.

no retreats. no reserves. no regrets. -will borden