On a Boston Bound Train ...

You get on a train to Boston, settle the family down for a 1 hour journey as other people take their seats, and then the nearest passenger makes a comment about the number of your kids and that they are all boys. Now this is not unusual really, it happens to us everywhere. Yet this time the man in question was up for a conversation that would last for the rest of the trip.

Him: “Four boys eh? Good on you, I had four boys too. We also had three girls.”
Me: “Wow that must have been a handful”
Him: “Yes and no, they were spread over 20 years, we were married young. Now we have 23 grand kids and 9 great grand kids.”
Me: “Gee how do you remember all their names and birthdays?”
Him: “Oh, you get used to it, though we spend most of the year travelling round the country to family events. Hey where are you from?”
Me: “Australia”
Him: “That’s great, the first Australian I met was when a guy called Marcus Loane came and preached at our Church, he was fantastic!”

After I picked my jaw off the floor and glanced at Karen who was guffawing beside me, I shook his hand and made introductions.

A thorough-going Calvinist, graciously spoken and widely read, he also had recently heard David Short (an Aussie preacher in Canada) preach and loved him. He then told me the tale of what it was like for the average pew-sitter watching the US Episcopal Church coming apart and what had been happening in relation to Rome and numerous other machinations of the Anglican Communion in this part of the world. Absolutely fascinating!

An hour later we were all greatly encouraged and spurred on to follow the Lord – incredible who you meet on a Boston bound train.

Michael