On my way home from work yesterday, I realised that something was different. The train I usually catch back home is always pretty much full. Last night it was pretty much empty. I basically contributed it to good luck. But just prior to arriving at the 4th last stop before home, we were told that the train wouldn’t be going any further and that we needed to wait for the next one. After waiting at Geelong for about 15 minutes, the trains had been replaced by buses. That meant the bus would stop at the other 2 stations in between, which would mean that I would only get home at 6:30 pm after leaving home at 5:22 am that morning.
Probably a good enough reason to be upset with the transport system in Melbourne, right? Well, everybody else was complaining. Sitting on that bus, I heard the conversation happening between a lady and a young guy sitting behind me. And no, I wasn’t eavesdropping. It was difficult not to hear what they were saying. One complaint after another about V-line being useless and not able to organise anything right. Then it moved to complaints about bad behaviour of young people today and then they started venting about how certain people were handed everything in life while others had to work hard for it.
But here’s the irony of it all. Neither of them frequently uses public transport. The young guy goes to Melbourne once a week, by train, for a personal training session and he does not work. The other lady sometimes goes to the city to do shopping and she doesn’t work either.
The thing is that 95% of the time, trains are punctual and running when they are scheduled to run. We never seem to acknowledge that and compliment them on doing a fantastic job most of the time. Why is it then that we seem to throw our toys out the cot when, 5% of the time they don’t?
Why is it that we can sit on the sidelines in life and be critical about young people today, be critical about people not working and critical about every, single thing, yet we refuse to do something about it? Matthew West wrote an awesome song called “Do Something”. It talks about shaking our fist at heaven and asking God why He doesn’t do something about hunger, poverty, children sold into slavery, trains running late (okay, I added that last one in). In the song, God’s answer to that is, “I did! I created YOU!”
I genuinely believe that God is telling us to stop complaining about things that are going wrong in this world if we are not willing to do something about it. If we can so passionately complain about something, then we should passionately be doing something about it. That is something that I am taking on board this year. Having been a school teacher for 18 years and a pastor for 6, I have always failed to understand how 1st world countries can have all the facilities and money to provide good education, and yet many of the children in these privileged education systems, fail to see what opportunities they really have. In contrast to that, children in poorer countries are being educated (if they are) in less than ideal circumstances and yet, they appreciate what they have and are so eager to learn.
So instead of shaking my fist at heaven and asking God why He doesn’t do something, I choose to listen to His answer…”I did, I created you!” I feel that this is what God is calling me to do next year. I already have friends in Mexico, Uganda and India who are involved in “Christian school planting”. Not so sure how it’s going to look practically, but I know there are children out there that would give anything for a good education with a solid foundation and I want God to use me to be part of the solution in their lives. Please pray for this new venture as I start up the “Whynotimpact Education Foundation.
Have an awesome day as you join me on the playing field, “Doing Something” and becoming part of the solution.
Mark Davidson
