in training

I have a very busy day ahead of me. I say this not to elicit sympathy but to explain why this blog entry is short. When life is very busy things get squeezed. Commuters will understand this. Imagine life is a train journey. When you are travelling outside peak times there is almost always a seat available, often a double seat and sometimes a double seat at a table. You have the space to spread out, to relax and to take in the view.

When you are travelling at peak times, especially if you join the train half way through its journey, you will struggle to get a seat unless you pre-booked it (and even then you may have to ask someone to vacate it because they sat there in the hope that it would be unclaimed). You may find yourself standing up looking for something to lean against or to hold onto. If it’s really busy you don’t have to worry about that because there are so many people squashed in that they hold one another up. It’s like that on the London Underground. The problem comes when someone in the middle of the carriage wants to get out.

So if you are travelling at peak time in your life, what has got squashed and squeezed? What are you leaning against or holding onto for balance? Is God a variable in your life who can be given less time and space? Or is he a constant and other things have to give?

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Ps 46.1)

Three engineers and three accountants are traveling by train to a conference. At the station, the three accountants each buy a ticket and watch as the three engineers only buy one ticket.

“How are three people going to travel on only one ticket?” asks an accountant. 

“Watch and you’ll see,” answered an engineer. 

They all board the train. The accountants take their respective seats but all three engineers cram into a toilet and close the door behind them. 

Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door and says, “Tickets, please!” The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The accountants see this and agree it is a clever idea. So after the conference, the accountants decide to copy the engineers on the return trip and save some money.

When they get to the station, they buy one ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the engineers don’t buy a ticket at all. 

“How are you going to travel without a ticket?” says one perplexed accountant. 

“Watch and you’ll see,” answered an engineer. 

When they board the train all three accountants cram into a toilet and the three engineers cram into another one nearby. The train departs.

Shortly afterward, one of the engineers leaves his toilet and walks over to the toilet where the accountants are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, “Tickets, please!”