S04E092, When Stubbornness Stops A Train, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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Someone tried to steal some signalling cable for train lines in the UK along an 8 mile stretch of railway. This created a huge problem as trains were cancelled all together, or simply delayed by 2 hours or more. As you moved away from the centre of where the problem began, those issues simply grew, exponentially!

At one train station one particular man had finally boarded a train, but became so angry when asked to get off that the police had to be called. The problem wasn’t one of him being unfairly targeted, but simply that he was standing where the train guard needed to be able to be. No train guard, no train!

The staff had similar altercations with people who simply became abusive at them for the problems with the train being overcrowded, delayed or cancelled. People who had reserved seats became enraged that they couldn’t sit down at ‘their seats’. But, when a train is that overcrowded, you’re fortunate to even be on the train at all. Seat reservations were removed by the train company until the problem had been resolved.

We’re not always very good at accepting things, and it’s so simple and easy to allow a sense of entitlement to grow, resulting in us shouting abuse at staff members simply trying to do the best they can, in an impossibly difficult situation that wasn’t of their making.

Pride goes before a fall – which is why pride is such a terrible evil in this world; arrogance simply makes people not want to come near you and creates isolation, and a lack of humans wanting to come near you; stubbornness prevents you from enjoying life, as you hold on, desperately, on to what you perceive as yours.

As followers of Jesus, we’re only too aware that this life is very temporary, and that we leave this world exactly as we entered it -with nothing but the memories of a life lived, for others to enjoy…or not!

So, always be willing to surrender your seat – whether to someone older, someone pregnant, someone physically struggling with more shopping than they can carry: let’s be kind to one another, and please let’s try and ditch the pride, arrogance, selfishness and stubbornness – can you imagine how much better the world would be if those attitudes and lifestyles disappeared?

Just a thought...

Andy B

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Transcript

0:07
So another Andy B 2 Minute Video. Now, over the weekend, we saw some friends. And as part of that we collected them from a train station, and we took them back.

0:17
We've had some train strikes here in the UK. The worse for 30 years so, we thought, well, we'll, we'll go with them just in case there's an issue. And they speak Swedish. They brilliantly speak English. But, it might be easier if I'm there. I can chat to the train staff, and make sure we know what's going on. The train strike's over, but, let's just be safe. Let's, let's go and stand with them on the platform, and wave them off on their journey back to London, for the rest of their holiday.

0:42
Now the train that they paid a ticket for, bought it in advance, it was booked, that train came in, it was standing room only. And I mean actual standing room. Not some people standing, but, literally, people could not get off the train people could not get on the train, it was absolute chaos!

1:01
And one man refused to get off the train. He got on, "I'm going to London, I am not getting off this train. I have waited for hours. I am here I am not moving".

1:12
Eventually they had to call the police. And it was said to this man, 'if you don't get off this train, this train can't move because you're standing where the guard has to go. So if you don't get off, the train doesn't move'.

1:23
"I'm not moving. I've waited for this spot. I am standing where I am".

1:26
So this stubborn, foolish, man, very selfish, held up a train for about 40 minutes. Until, finally he was relieved of his position on the train, and the guard could get on, and the train could go.

1:40
Sometimes in life we get so hell bent on 'I am going to do this, I am entitled to this'. We're in a society where there is so much entitlement, entitlement. My word. It's so sad. 'I'm entitled to this.' 'This is my right'. And we end up with such anger, and hostility and I had a couple of the staff members, I, I listen to people who work on platforms, and other people because they often have a story to tell. And I had two of them. I could see them so upset, and offended and they thought I was coming to attack them.

2:10
And I was just asking a simple question. And one of them opened up, actually quite a lot. She'd just had a lot of really aggressive attitude, and bad language, shouted at her by someone who was so frustrated. And she said 'It's not our fault. We, the trains are struggling today. It's nothing to do with the strike. There's other issues', affecting a massive number of stations all around, all over the UK, from Edinburgh, down to, to London because someone has tried to steal some cables. And this is just one of many train stations with an issue, that's affected by that. 'We, we didn't cause that. Someone tried to steal some cable. The signals aren't working. We can't get the trains in or out of the stations. It's not my fault!' And she was so upset, and hurt.

2:55
Now our friends got on a later train. It was all good! But one man stopped a train for 40 minutes, not because he was lying in front of it, but he refused to get out of the way, so the train could not leave. The ramifications of that will just magnify down the track. One man's foolish stupidity, prevented many, many hundreds of people from carrying their journey on. You understand his frustration, but his actions were wrong.

3:22
Where in your life are you clinging on desperately because you finally got what you are entitled to? And God is saying "Just let it go, I want you to have my best" says God, "not not your best".

3:35
Your best isn't good enough. God's best is better! It's the best!!

3:41
So, where is God asking you to surrender something so He can give you something much better? Like that man on that train who had to give up his his position, his hard won position, so the train could actually go. He got on a later train, no problem.

3:55
Just a thought.