How does one spend 25 hours on a train?
On the way to a new city we had sleeper-seats. No problem! It’s a little uncomfortable sleeping near strangers. The sleepers fit 3 bunks high with 6 beds total per section. It’s a high climb to the top bunk (skirts not a good clothing item for travel), and it’s not possible to sit up on the bunks, but one can lay down. Really altogether, these small incoveniences don’t compare to the discomforts awaiting us in the second half of our trip.
On the way back we didn’t get the sleeper-seats. None were available, so we opted for the hard seats instead. 25 hours on a HARD SEAT! This train ride was much different than the first. For starters, on the first ride it was possible to mingle with people, but if I wanted to, I could retreat to the secluded place of my bed. This was definitely not the case with the second trip. There was no hiding from people!
I could see the choice before me…good attitude or bad attitude? The more I thought about how much sleep I WASN’T going to get, the more I thought about how much time I’d have to spend talking with other people I probably wouldn’t be able to understand, the more I thought about the 2 squatty potties available to the more than 100 people in our train car (and knowing no one uses soap on the train), the more I thought about how many of those people smoke, creating smoke I would be forced to inhale…What would I choose? Bad attitude? Good attitude?
I chose…God’s grace. It’s really the best choice because His grace is so abundant for everything we need! It was His grace that lead us to sing worship songs when we were asked by one of the other passengers who noticed the guitar we had in-tow and requested that we play. Without His grace, I would have given them a look that said, “Don’t bother me!” But by His grace, He drew more than 2/3 of the car around our team of 4 who sang praises to our King!
Yes! For about a half hour we sang worship songs on the train as many people looked on!
One of the guys on our team had an opportunity to share the Gospel with some young men who were interested. Specifically, he shared from John and shared the eight “I AM” names listed throughout that book!
As we traveled across the country by train, I once again saw Him show up in a powerful way, bringing glory to Himself.