Here's the situation: I was taking the bullet train because I needed to go down to Taichung for our monthly all-missionary meeting. Since I live about 3 hours away from Taichung by bus or train, plus the time to get to the meeting place once I'm down there, the high-speed rail means that instead of waking up before 5AM for a 3+ hour trip I can wake up at 7 and make the 9:30 prayer meeting easily. After buying the ticket (at a 7-11... they are truly convenience stores here) the night before, I wasn't too worried. I've done this trip several times by now, and I know how things work.
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| Taiwan's High Speed Rail (HSR) |
The next morning, however, things dragged a little. I hadn't slept well, needed to pack some extra clothes since I was staying the weekend, etc. One way or another, I left about 5 minutes later than I intended.
That should have been no problem, though, since I had several minutes of extra time. However on arriving at the nearby transit/subway station which would take me to the high-speed rail station, I found that I had missed the subway... by less than 30 seconds. I had to wait nearly 8 minutes for the next train. Suddenly 5 minutes late turned into 13 minutes late, and that was problematic.
I boarded the next subway train, knowing that I would arrive at the transit station right around the time the high-speed rail departed. I'd have to pay a little extra and wait for the next train, and possibly miss the first part of the prayer meeting.
I fumed for several minutes. I'd only missed the subway I needed by a few moments. I could have done nearly anything of the various things I did that morning a little faster and made it.
But a subway doesn't wait for you. You must make it by the time it leaves, or you are left behind. There is no "grace" for catching a train, only fairness. The train leaves when it leaves, and if you're not there when it's time to go, you don't get to ride it. If you don't make it in time, that's not the train's fault. This is a principle we all acknowledge.
I pulled out my ticket again, and was startled to see that I'd misremembered something. I'd remembered purchasing the ticket for 8:00AM, but this ticket wasn't for 8:00AM. It was for 8:12AM.
That meant I had plenty of time. In terms of mass transit, Taipei is about as convenient as it gets. 12 extra minutes meant that instead of being 1 or 2 minutes late, I had a solid 10 extra minutes -loads of time. I could stop and grab a snack before getting on the train. I could take a 5min nap if I so chose. I smiled as the stress of knowing I'd barely missed my train melted away and was replaced by the relief of what David in the Psalms called "being brought forth into a broad place." (Psalm 18)
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| Happily onboard with my ticket. |
This was grace; by my own actions, I'd missed the train. It didn't matter whether it was by 2 seconds or 20 minutes, whether it was poor planning or taking a little too long to get out the door one way or another, missing the train simply means missing it.
But although I'd come up entirely short, I didn't miss the train, I was granted 12 extra minutes that I didn't deserve, and hadn't planned on. My state was flipped from stressed-out failure to smooth sailing.
That's grace.
In life it doesn't matter if you're an uncommonly altruistic person or a psychopath; not meeting God's standard means you don't make the train; there's an eternal feast with God and you didn't get in.
Grace is the offer from God of those extra minutes. Catching the train to God's perfect home requires perfection, and none of us can make it no matter how hard we work; the slightest delay at any point means missing the train, and in reality we're all wasting quite a bit of time here and there. But Jesus has already sacrificed Himself to buy us all the time we could ever need. And He offers it to us, freely, but on His terms.
The question is whether you will accept His terms or not; the train doesn't listen to your terms.
May we all meet at the terminal station one day...
(Only to find it's not the end, but the beginning)
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| At my destination: A beautiful morning in Taichung |
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