When I was a child, we would count the number of cars in a train as it would pass by. It was an exciting thing when we would pull up to the RR crossing and the gate was down because the train was about to go by. I am sure that it was not exciting to my dad at the time, but as children it was an adventure.

It was chaotic as all of us would count out loud at the same time. Every once in awhile the train would start to slow down before it had cleared the crossing. It would take a long time for the train to come to a complete stop. The hitches would clatter as the wheels ceased to turn and it slowly started to change direction. We learned that when a speeding train is going one way, it takes time and effort to make it go the other direction.

I have heard the expression, “train of thought” my whole life. It simply defines the ongoing process in our thinking. We all develop a direction in our deciphering the issues that we deal with in our everyday life. The process, or train of thought, in which we think through these things is developed over a matter of time. We will then tend to use the same train of thought to assess the issue we are dealing with.

Decisions are then made, or avoided, according to that assessment. Some of these decisions that we make, or ignore, will affect us for the rest of our life. The problem is that once we develop our direction, it is very difficult to change the things we have set our mind to believe. We can hear facts to the contrary, observe poor past performance, and be in a less than desirable situation because of our past decisions, and still think in the same direction that we have been heading.

Is it possible that our thought pattern is indeed like a speeding locomotive? Would it take a considerable amount of time and energy to change the direction of our mind? Is it worth the effort or is it easier to just speed along in the wrong direction until we run out of time? Can a train speeding in the wrong direction end up in a fatal head on collision?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington Junior High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the gymnasium at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington Court House.