THE BEAT e120 How to Stop a Train for the 1

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.

Season 2 Episode 120 

THE BEAT | How to Stop a Train for the One

 Quick Take 

Hey human, in this episode we talk about rhythms, trains and the need for speed. God speed. We consider what train whistles mean, and how only God stops spiritual fatalities. I’ll see you inside e120. Thanks for listening.

How is God close to you today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host. 

Why is Season 2 of Faith to Witness 99 called The Beat? Because rhythm has always been important to me, second nature (if that’s a thing) and I am always looking for it. I may not always name it, but that is what I seek: the rhythm of God in my life.

When we moved inland from the wildly native North Carolina coast, we landed in a rather hidden little country spot surrounded by aging one-intersection towns and rapidly developing cities, all divided and dissected by train tracks.

It reminded me of the train tracks in a small town in my childhood, just before the grain elevator. I rarely crossed them on foot because it wasn’t really where I wanted to go. I wasn’t afraid of them… I had gauged their pace as they slowed to a stop to unload. I could outrun them. So this child thought.

Today, I brake with caution. Look both ways and look again at what appears to be a trainless track with no flashing lights. I am pretty sure I hold my breath when I cross, hoping my last eye examine was legit and my hearing still serves me an accurate dose of audio signals.

But it is not the crossing I think about. It is about what I hear, no what a train whistle stirs in my heart. It’s easy to romanticize about where a train is coming from, where it is going, what it is carrying, whether cargo or people, or both. It somehow takes me to a place I have never lived. A train whistle prompts my imagination.

In fact, on any given night, if I wake up at 3am, I will hear the train, and again at around 4am, 5am and throughout the day. It takes me places.

I Thought About the Engineer, the Crew

But not one night, this was not what I thought about for the first time at 3am, and every night after that when the sound of the train lulled me awake. I thought about the train engineer, the train crew, and what that whistle meant to them in that moment. And it began to mean something different to me, not out of imagination, but grounded in reality. I felt sick to my stomach. The kind of nauseous that comes when you realize the dark, cold side of the truth that once held promise of warmth and goodness, like standing on the shadowed side of a New York City building that isn’t catching the sun.

A train whistle is a warning.

I have known this from sitting at crossings, wide awake in anticipation of an approaching train.

But this brain prompt was different.

A train whistle is a warning.

The train engineer, the crew are actually saying this:

This train cannot stop for you.

So, I looked up train whistles and found this:

Train whistles communicate to railroad workers and the public through a series of standardized signals:

Approaching a station: A long blast for 3–10 seconds

Approaching a street: Two long blasts, then one short blast, then one more long blast

Approaching a crossing: A long blast followed by a series of short blasts

Departing a station: Two short blasts

Moving forward: Two short blasts

Reversing: Three short blasts in a row

Emergency stop: A series of short, sharp blasts

Clear track: Three short blasts

Acknowledgment: One short blast

Train drivers cope with the potential of fatalities even when blowing the whistle. You can look this up and read heart-mangling stories of engineers, crew who cope with “this train cannot stop for you” during every run they make. Those who live with the fatalities they witness. Men, women, children, those who committed suicide, co-workers. The stakes are high.

Our country, our world needs trains. We are all impacted by what trains provide, and while the world grows our transportation options, trains have their place, with those humans who have taken on this duty, with a commitment to awareness, constant vigilance, proper signaling, emergency braking, training and education, and seeking psychological support. But only God can give them true peace.

I should stop and note here that a person or vehicle is hit every 3 hours in the United States. Say a prayer for the person who takes on the weight of “fatality” in their work every day. Have empathy for the divine burden the engineers, the first responders carry. Find the “one” in your life and thank that human. Pray for him, pray for her.

What a Train Teaches Us about Speed and Force

The train whistles I shared are signals with two critical variables:  speed and force.

So, I wanted more about what a train teaches us about speed and force. As I worked my way through them, I immediately understood why God lead me here. The spiritual application is astounding.

It takes the average freight train traveling at 55 mph more than a mile to stop (roughly the length of 18 football fields). The average locomotive weighs about 200 tons (400,000 pounds) but can weigh up to 6,000 tons. That means the weight ratio of a car to a train is proportionate to that of a soda can to a car.

So, if you think a train can see you and stop in time, think again.

People may think they can stand alongside tracks and be safe from a train, but the truth is trains are wider than the tracks. A train can extend three or more feet on either side of the steel rail, so the safe zone for pedestrians is well beyond three feet on either side.

Tracks aren’t one way, so even if you’ve seen a train traveling east, a train could travel west on the very same track.

An optical illusion makes it hard to determine both a train’s distance from you and its speed. At the same time, trains are quieter than ever, so just because you don’t hear that “clackety-clack” doesn’t mean a train is far away.

For these reasons, trains are always closer and moving faster than you think.

A Rhythm God Placed in My Day, Twice

This isn’t the first time trains have been a rhythm. Working and living in Manhattan for more than a decade, trains were a major part of my daily rhythm. Grand Central Terminal, the largest train station in the world by its 44 platforms and 67 tracks on two levels, was my turf twice a day for many years. That’s a lot of people on platforms waiting, entering, exiting trains. That’s a lot of track-switching, and coordination. I miss what God taught me on all those commutes, about people, about me, about life, about living with spiritual grit.

In some of my recent reading I learned about how “a mystical sound breaking the silence” may cause some kind of spiritual prompt. That an unexpected sound like a train horn can perhaps be a wake-up call in our spiritual journey.

There is no “perhaps” for me. There are no trains in the Bible. But God remembers my train commutes, my subway frame of mind. God remembers what my heart misses. So God put trains in my day. When I hear the sound of a train coming through it means something to me. It is a rhythm God gave me, not unlike the ocean and the sound front water in my daily life on the Outer Banks. A connection to His presence, a prompt to gather speed and power through His name alone, to His glory alone.

Yeah, that’s it. A connection to His presence, a prompt to gather speed and power through His name alone, to His glory alone.

He started with giving me empathy for the one, an engineer at 3 am.

My Train of Thought – A Spiritual Fatality

And brought me to this train of thought: if I jump my spiritual track and barrel forward on my own, the longer I go, at an earthly speed, the less chance I will ever want to stop.

C.S. Lewis put it like this:

We must learn by experience to avoid either trains of thought or social situations which for us (not necessarily for everyone) lead to temptations. Like motoring-don’t wait till the last moment before you put on the brakes but put them on, gently and quietly, while the danger is still a good way off.

Well said. That man thought about almost everything, didn’t he?

I am thinking about that 3-foot overhang on either side of a train extending beyond the tracks. That my prideful girth might take someone out, a fatal blow to their spirit-run. Or someone on my tracks I could help, but I choose not to call on God to stop me in time to help them.

Not being able to stop for someone is that serious. Spiritually fatal.

What I am rallying us to, human, is that our spiritual rhythm, the spirit-clicks through our day, the speed, the power with which we travel, with which we gain speed, should be driven by our Creator, the divine engineer.

Because the speed with which God travels, is the same power with which He stops for the one.

Paul requests prayer about this:

2 Thessalonians 3

 

3 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.

What spiritual rhythms has God put in your life in this season? Comment in show notes or tell me at deeperwater@kathrynbise.com I would love to share some of your rhythms with listeners.

Because the rhythms God gives us are echoes of a beautiful verse from King David.

Psalm 147:15

 

He sends his command to the earth;

    his word runs swiftly.