An idea pops in my head as I settle down behind my computer, with the late afternoon sun shining through the window over my keyboard. I see a little train taking on a steep hill, he is working hard and I hear the noise that he is making I-know-I-can-I-can-do-it-I-know-I-can-I-can-do-it rather than the normal chugga-chugga-chugga sound that a steam train makes.
I don’t know if this is now just by accident that I remember a picture from my childhood or whether I watched a story at some time with this image. But I do know that God showed it to me for a reason.
None-the-less, the sun is LOVELY here and I realise just HOW privileged I am to be right here at this very moment. This month’s scripture is also one of my favorites, from Philippians. I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.
You see, like the little train, it sometimes feels to me, and probably to others too, that I have to get on top of this massive hill called life. Along the way there are challenges, nowhere in the Bible we are exempted from a life without challenges. But, we are guaranteed that God is next to us and we can do things through Him that gives us strength.
We have to choose how we see the challenges. The road of uncertainty and with no clear footpath that we sometimes feel that we are on, uncertain of where we must go or whether we are on the right road. Or the potholes that make us move a bit slower than what we want to so that we cannot climb out the hill as quickly as we think we should.
Again this scripture is so accurate at this point in time, I cannot help but want to give God a fist pump. You see, like my previous entry stated – the dynamics in the firm has changed and things are landing up back on my desk. Sometimes I wonder if I really will be able to deal with it all and other times I just know that we will be more than ok.
God is busy showing us the way, filling our engines with coal and lighting it up so that we can get to the top of the hill. When I feel down and out about things that I must do and deal with, changes with authorities and systems that I perceive to be not so great in my opinion (if I may give an opinion at all), then I look at this scripture and I see the train.
God’s train. I am His train, as I climb the hill, with smoke coming from my engine as a sign that I am His and that His fire is burning inside of me (not pollution type of smoke – I am sure you understand what I am trying to say here). Smoke that is a sign for other engines that they must get their coal loaded, filled with God’s word and to get it lit by the Holy Spirit, so that they too can climb steep hills.
Where is your train? Do you feel like you cannot go on anymore? Do you have enough coal to burn? Maybe we should start there! You cannot run on fumes and expect get to the top of the hill. You must ensure that your engine is filled with God’s word so that the Holy Spirit can strike the match to burn the coal, turning it into energy. It is only then when Philippians 4:13 can be activated in your life, enabling you to do everything through Christ that gives you strength.
I-know-I-can-I-can-do-it-I-know-I-can-I-can-do-it I hear my engine’s efforts to get up the steep hill that I feel is lying in front of me. Maybe it is not so steep and hard? Maybe I am just not yet close enough to know that it is actually only a little speed bump. But until then I will repeat the words from scripture. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Die stoomtrein
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. In a life totally overwhelmed at the moment – from loadshedding to traffic to deadlines – one sometimes wonder how you would cope going forward. Thanks for this reminder…