The First Westbound Service Begins
Welcome to the next daily installment of this true story, which you can find posted here each afternoon until it comes to an end.
Day 1 - San Francisco-bound,
Sunday, November 29, 2023
Chapter 73: Service 5 - Sunset, November 26, 2023
I went though the train back-to-front, welcoming people to come join me. This evening the back of the observation car was mostly full.
I prayed for two people along the way. That was a new step, ministering to people at their seats. I suspect I will be continuing doing that.
And then I prepared the worship space a little bit — for lack of a better word, than prepare, but I think that’s what God had me do.
I sang some songs, loudly enough for others around me to hear, but really not very loudly, as far as I can tell. The lounge car, again, was pretty full. I sang.
The Holy Spirit said to keep singing. An older, yet still kind of hip, couple who mocked my invitation to pray earlier, at that point turned on some loud music, on what must have been a Bluetooth speaker.
It seemed to be a response to me singing. They seemed to be competing with my singing with their speaker. The Holy Spirit said to keep singing. The man said aloud, “Make it stop.” They soon turned off the music. I kept singing. They turned on more music. Holy Spirit said to keep singing. This was not my ego speaking. I was very embarrassed to be dueling in this way. My ego wanting me to go elsewhere or to shut up. The Holy Spirit was clear that I was supposed to keep singing. The people who were there got up and left after maybe 4 or 5 songs.
I sang about 20 songs and God released me to read Hebrews 12 aloud and then to pray.
When I looked up after that, my half of the lounge car was almost totally empty. Only two people remained (out of maybe 15 seats). I’m not sure what that was all about, but God definitely wanted me singing.
And it seems like the singing chased off most of the people who had been in those seats.
I went back to my seat after. Shortly thereafter we stopped. We stopped in Burlington, Iowa.
A woman, whose son is a pastor, leaned over to me on her way out of the train in Burlington, Iowa and said, “I enjoyed your singing.”
I wasn’t sure anybody heard the singing, other than the people who ran off. Actually — that’s not true. One lady, an Amtrak employee walked by and said “Hallelujah.” Based on my small random sampling, I think a lot of Amtrak employees love Christ.
I am not sure what was going on tonight, but I think tonight was time to just hold some space on the train and to declare it God’s space.
Chapter 74: The Things You Learn
Burlington, Iowa hosts a nighttime Christmas parade the weekend after Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season.
“It’s the largest winter parade in the state,” said my neighbor on the train. One elderly woman in Burlington told her and her traveling partners that the parade was 64 years old. Another elderly woman told them it was 92 years old.
You acquire some fascinating knowledge when you talk, ask, listen, and learn with questions like: Why were you traveling? Where are you going from and to? Why did you choose to take the train?
Or you can just say something like, “I’m going from San Francisco to Chicago and back to see family from Thanksgiving. How about you?” And then just hush up and listen.
I can be so curious and eager to hear the stories that people have, that I can be a little too focused on asking insightful questions and listening. I really love people, but not everyone does, and asking too many sincere questions can really put some people off. I find that a little information sharing before I ask a question makes the question a lot better received.
Those steps: talk, ask, listen, and learn are a way for me to help keep that in mind.
-Allan Stevo
This is a selection from my forthcoming book, “The Amtrak Vignettes.” A neat story began with the writing of “The Amtrak Vignettes” in October 2023. Every day until that story comes to an end, I intend to share a part of it here. It is a part of my faith journey as a Christian, a faith journey that has been deepened since the Ides of March 2020. Some of it gets pretty wild and nothing that a “reasonable” person would find himself in the midst of. Few will be scared off by it. Instead, many will grow deeper in their faith. I know that, because I know my readers well, and I know that few come here expecting me to give a milquetoast version of anything. Come here to be challenged. Stay here to have your life changed. That, I believe, is what will come of this work. You can support that work by signing up below.