Train Delays and the Sovereignty of God

Mar. 14 2008

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We asked for your stories about sharing the gospel and you sent them. Stories that take place over 10 minutes and over years. Stories from Texas and Detroit and Peru and the Philippines. Funny and moving and heartbreaking stories.

Now we finally get to share them. We’ll start with Chris’ story about late trains, a Muslim man, and the sovereignty of God. It’s about an ordinary day interrupted by an extraordinary God:

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Thursday morning I was in Newark, NJ at traffic court, trying to get points dropped from a moving violation that I received back in December. Once court was over, I left Newark by train around six o’clock that night on the most crowded train I had ever been. While we were about twenty minutes from Trenton, the conductor’s voice came over the speaker system informing us that there was a broken down train ahead of us and that we were going to be delayed a while – long enough for me to miss my connecting R7 train into Philadelphia.

After the broken down train was cleared, we reached a major stop, Princeton Junction, and more than half the train got off. Everyone who was standing and continuing on found a free seat. I sat down next to a man in his late twenties/early thirties.

Then the sovereignty of God interrupted my day. The man pulled out an R7 train schedule and began looking for the next connecting train to Philadelphia. Since I needed the same train, I asked him when the next connecting train was. Small talk ensued.  I found out he lived in Philly and worked in Newark.

After the small talk, we sat in silence for a little bit of time. The whole time, I was thinking, “I need to share the gospel with this man.” However, part of me was fighting that notion; I was becoming fearful and apathetic. But God, being rich in mercy, helped me remember examples of times my girlfriend Jenny shared the gospel on the train.

I asked the man if he lived with his family and he said, “Yes, with my wife.” Since he was young, this gave me a perfect opportunity to say congratulations and to talk about how our culture pushes marriage off until late 30’s and doesn’t have a high value of marriage. That led to me asking him if he believed in God - he said “yes.” Then I asked him if he was a Christian, and he informed me that he was actually a Muslim.

For the next ten minutes, we talked about how Muslims believe they can get go God.  I was about to explain the Christian viewpoint of reconciliation to a Holy God, when the train arrived at Trenton at exactly 8:10PM. The connecting train was set to leave at 8:12PM. He had a pass for the next train, but I did not, nor did I even know where to get one. He directed me to the escalator where I had to go for a ticket and then we said goodbye and he went on the train.

I proceeded upstairs and wasted 2 minutes just looking for the correct machine to purchase a ticket at. By the time I had a ticket it was at least 8:14PM. 

The sovereignty of God interrupted again. I ran down stairs and found that the train was delayed. So, I got on and turned left, not knowing where this man would be sitting. I walked a little bit and wouldn’t you know, I found the man sitting up on the right-hand side of the train. This just amazed me— that God’s spirit led me in the correct way!

We continued our dialogue and I explained to this man what the Bible says about how sinners can get to a Holy God.  We talked for the next forty-four minutes about everything from trips to Mecca to the accuracy and authority of the Bible. He didn’t believe anything that I said, but we had a respectful and clear dialogue.

I found that he only lives about 9 blocks away from me. We parted ways after I got his name and phone number, and mentioned the possibility of having a dialogue in the future.

God is so amazing – His sovereign hand in evangelism is ever clear. Why do I ever shy back from sharing the good news?  Why am I fearful?  He is always faithful!

-Chris. Philly, PA

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