Most of us don’t find ourselves stranded in Newark on a Friday night because of some kind of job action by NJ Transit employees, but last night there I was. So as I learned that all trains on NJ Transit were cancelled on Friday night forcing me and many others, including elderly and disabled persons along with mothers with small children, to wonder how we were going to get home.
When asked why there was no train service, the NJ Transit officer just laughed as if it were funny that a frantic pregnant woman could not get home. Walking through downtown Newark six blocks or so at night to get a bus which put me another mile from where my car was parked at the local train station, I wondered if the personnel who decided to have this job action ever thought of the effects on others.
In the midst of this a young man stepped forward to help us find the right bus that would help get some of us home. Getting home close to midnight, I couldn't help but wonder about people who had to get to Trenton or Long Branch, not to mention the woman with a crying child in the Newark Train Station.
Prayer for the Day
God of all times and all places, we do not understand the world around us,
As sometimes we find ourselves in the desert of confusion;
Searching for water, we pray to leave the barren wastes
And to find springs of understanding and kindness.
Refresh our lives with the water that can only come from you,
As we try to live as faithful witnesses of your word,
In the name of him who was your most faithful witness,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
To be civilized is to be incapable of giving unnecessary offense. It is to hve some quality of consideration for those who cross our path.
- Agnes Reppler, American essayist (1855-1950)
People will walk in and walk out of your life, but the one whose footstep made a long lasting impression is the one you should never allow to walk out.”
- Michael Bassey Johnson, poet
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
Proverbs 3:27