Tuesday 21st November 2023

I’ll be honest, I don’t particularly enjoy doing devotions. It’s not so much the writing of them, although this is sometimes a struggle (as it can be very late in the day when inspiration hits – such as last time when I rewrote my entire text on the train on the way here) but more so actually standing up and sharing them with you. I find I am much more comfortable putting thoughts down on paper (or rather the electronic equivalent) and posting them on the internet for people to read if they feel so inclined. I do this in the form of blogging. I have several blogs, all of which are in various states of neglect, but from time to time I do feel compelled to commit things to writing.

One of these was our holiday to London this summer, which I’ve been writing up slowly over the course of the last few weeks.

You may recall we stayed at the training college and, for those of you who’ve been there’ it’s a short journey into London from Denmark Hill Station. On our first day we were stood on the platform waiting for our train when a steam hauled special service came snorting through, much to Arthur’s delight.

The second day, he was keen to get back to the station as he assumed that this was a regular occurrence, and we’d see it again. We told him that, sadly, this probably wouldn’t be the case as special or, I suppose you could say ‘different’ trains aren’t common through a commuter station, particularly as that morning we were travelling at peak time to see changing of the guard. We were wrong however and very large, very loud, very long double headed diesel hauled freight train provided that morning’s entertainment.

And so the third day. Needless to say Arthur was now absolutely convinced that something cool would be coming through again. Again, we tried to temper his expectations and tell him that it just wasn’t likely to happen three days in a row. And we were right.

You may not have noticed but he’s an irrepressible character and was not to be defeated by this setback. Face pressed against the window all the way into Victoria he scanned every line, every siding, and every station for a hint of ‘something cool’. Still nothing. Again, a kind word and an attempt at tempering expectations.

Until we got to Victoria.

With a squeal of delight, he saw it. The (as it turned out, very very delayed) Belmond Pullman, sitting in Platform 1. With a Diesel engine at each end and 12 Pullman coaches in the middle, it certainly stood out from the run of the mill commuter trains on every other platform.

Arthur was never in any doubt he’d see a special train that day. His faith was unshakeable and provides a lesson for all of us.

The bible says in Matthew 17:20 “…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”