It was hot and that is an understatement.  You could see the heat rising up from the rails, you felt the burning sun upon your skin, and every drop of water you drank sweat out; but you waited anyway.

All of a sudden, you could feel the ground rumble – as the excitement grew around you, you heard it.  The whistle.  Not just any train horn, not just a trope “woo woo” but a deep bellow that can only be made by the world’s largest, most powerful steam locomotive…the Big Boy.

At the sound of the whistle, the crowd cheered and then it rounded the corner.  After a long wait (for some of us many, many hours), Big Boy arrived.  The whistle blew and we cheered.  As the entire train came to a stop, everyone began to move up and see the engine.  The engineer waved, we shouted “USA USA” and the crowd went wild.

This had nothing to do with politics, political parties or anything like that.  We all gathered to see this marvel of US engineering, designed to transport freight across the mountainous West and rebuilt as a project of love.  The community gathered (and did so all around the route of the train from the west to Philadelphia), and we celebrated.  We enjoyed.  We became friends.

This brings me to an important thought.  Why can we all gather together beyond the problems, beyond the issues and beyond the rhetoric, to celebrate something so special, yet we cannot do so among the ordinary? 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

When I arrived at the train station, I met a man who was there earlier, then another man came.  We started talking and bonded over this event.  Soon more came.  During our time, one man witnessed with what God had done in his life, I spoke about our church and we lifted each other up in many ways (including physical with water and shade from the sun).  As more came, we shared the umbrella, chair and water we had.  We made sure others had what they needed, and got help when appropriate.  Altogether, we built each other up.

This is the call for the church, to help each other out, to share what we have, and then to explain our faith – we cannot just start “evangelizing” people without a connection, rather we need to build each other up and connect first.

As you travel through this week, see how you can share in the excitement around you, connect with others, create bonds and then talk about your faith.

Peace,

Pastor Bill