Sunday, November 22, 2009

"...... as long as I keep rollin on."

Miss me? We'll I've been taking a train trip, girlfriends. Scott and I took the Southwestern Chief to Chicago, and then the Capitol Limited to D.C. While there we saw the grands, their parents, and a few of the "off-the-beaten path sights" within the Beltway.
My focus today is Train Travel in 2009. During our time on the train, both ways, no one told us to remove our shoes, wanded my chest looking for the explosives concealed in my underwire bra, or passed us a "free" bag of 3 mini pretzels. Our suitcases were checked to our destination as part of our fare. We ate numerous real meals, served to us warm, in a rolling restaurant, not on our laps. I did not have to read old magazines with previously completed crosswords, and best of all we met some marvelous people.
Dining Car seating, on Amtrak trains, is Community, which means you are seated with strangers until the table is full. Our first meal, right out of KC, was breakfast, which we shared with a young man in his 20s. He was a "gaming" contestant returning home to NYC, from a convention in LA.
Our next meal was shared with a couple from Indiana, who had been on a month long tour of the western states. Every dining experience was a chance to meet and listen to a little bit of another traveler's life story. And, of course we shared our stories, too.
It occurred to me that it's a shame we can't share a meal with strangers more often. If we could really sit and talk to those folk who visit our churches only once and never come back......well, we might open up to them and they might just be open to joining us in our Christian Journey.
Now, I know it would be a risk taking thing. We'd be stepping out of our comfort zones...away from eating those stale pretzels on our own.....we'd be sharing a table.
Sort of like what communion is supposed to be. Fellow Life travelers, that's food for thought.

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