ALL ABOARD

As printed in Durant Daily Democrat June 3, 2011

Have you been stuck at a railroad crossing? If you run your errands around Durant, it is likely for that to happen a time or two. Have you heard the train whistles? If you live in Durant I am sure you have. I write this to emphasize how important these locomotives and rail companies are to our town and county. For many of the new industries that have come and those that will come to the Durant Area, rail is a key ingredient for receiving and shipping, as well as the trucks on 69/75. There is currently nothing as efficient and connected to the rest of the country as our rail system.

Many communities such as ours are lucky to have a class one carrier, yet we have been serviced by three. These are names we should know, but do not worry—I also had to find out the names. Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Sante Fe, and Kansas City Southern are the three class one carriers, reaching across our whole nation. To receive cars from these three lines requires the important work of the short-line carrier, Kiamichi-Rail America. These four rail companies are an essential ingredient to our community’s growth. So when I hear the train whistles or need to wait for a train, I think about how important it is to our community.

Now you may be asking why a minister is so interested in our local trains. The answer has two parts which I believe are related. The first is very simple and that is that our local churches are part of the same community and the reality is that churches need the community to be healthy on many levels, including economically. While some of our citizens have fallen on bad economic times, we are able to provide services in the community, such as (but not limited to) Loaves & Fishes and Families Feeding Families because many are able to give their time, talent, and money.

The second is how the train symbolizes our interconnection with the rest of the nation and even the world. What makes trains so important are how they provide efficient transportation from sea to shining sea. When you see or hear the trains in town, you know that the cars are filled with many different raw materials and finished goods, going throughout the land. This is a wonderful fact. Just as we have different churches in town, we have only one Gospel, one track. Paul states this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.” All Christians are baptized into one body, yet there is a diversity of gifts among the body, with Christ as the head.

Therefore when I see or hear the trains I think about how Christians from all walks of life and of all denominations may be different but are united by the tracks set by the Father God, the train that Jesus is at the control, and the Holy Spirit that powers the train. I believe today as the popular slogan in many frontier churches of the nineteenth century stated, “In essentials, Unity; in non-essentials, Liberty; and in all things, Charity.”

So when you now get stuck waiting to cross the tracks, or simply hear one of those impressive locomotives, I hope you will think about how blessed we are. We are blessed to have a town that has industry and jobs in part because of these railroads. We are also all blessed to be part of the wonderful Body of Christ, the church, which expands over the world like the rails, connecting Christendom, for “…God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12: 18-20).

So I leave you with the words of the 1965 hit single by The Impressions:

People get ready, there's a train a comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord

We can all get on board. Be it for our community, but even greater for Christ.