Railroad tracks

The righteous will live by faith (Romans 1:17).

When I was young, my family lived in a subdivision that was only a few blocks from the edge of town. After just ten minutes of walking, you could lose sight of any housing; you could be wandering through groves of trees and across fields of wild grasses.

I loved it. I loved the green leaves dappled by sunlight. I loved the butterflies dancing in the breeze. I loved the sense of adventure, wandering through places I hadn’t been before. I loved the sense of privacy I felt, surrounded by nothing but nature.

The reason that I could feel a sense of privacy was because these areas were not commonly traveled. Most kids in the neighborhood preferred playing in their yards or going to the ball field or the school playground. I could feel a sense of adventure because there were no sidewalks, no trails to follow. There was just one thing that gave evidence of man’s presence—a set of railroad tracks.

These steel rails did not spoil the adventure for me—far from it. The tracks only added mystery to the scene. Where did they come from? Where did they go? What kind of cargo traveled along them? The railroad tracks promised adventures farther away than my feet could take me, farther away than I could even imagine. Not only that, but they were a source of security; with tracks to follow back into town, there was no risk of ever getting lost. The tracks both tickled my imagination and gave me a sense of security.

Life can be like walking through dense woods or empty fields; we often find ourselves wandering with no obvious path to guide us. And although the world is beautiful much of the time, it can become frightening when light gives way to darkness and we find ourselves alone. But a line of railroad tracks has been laid through our world. These rails give us comfort by showing us that we are not alone. These rails give us reassurance that there is more to life than aimless wandering, that there is a purposeful direction we can follow. These rails give us hope, because although we cannot see where the tracks wind up, we know that they are leading to someplace important where safety can be found. These rails are faith in Jesus, faith that offers the comfort of His presence, the reassurance that our lives have direction and purpose when we follow Him, and the hope of an unseen but safe and happy home awaiting us in heaven.