Great Planning!
Why, you might ask, have we on page 1 of the Church’s newsletter a photograph of Littlehaven station crossing? 
Well, I suppose I am rather fond of the ‘ancient monument’, having lived beside it for nearly 41 years! It drives you crazy sometimes, like when you’re in a hurry to get to church because you’rerunning late, and the gates swing shut as you approach forcing you to watch one, two or maybe three trains pass before opening again. But there is, on the other hand, a certain sense of safety in that they swing back, shutting off the rail track on either side.
But now Network Rail has plans to replace the gates with barriers this month—full skirted barriers, I believe, that will reach right across the road. They say that the replacement is ‘absolutely necessary, primarily on safety grounds, but also on grounds of future service delivery to commuters’. I am not going into the whys and wherefores of that here, but the fact remains that Network Rail has plans—plans to prosper us – in as far as they should improve the convenience of the travelling public to be able to reach their train more quickly and to reduce waiting time for road users and pedestrians; plans not to harm us, i.e. to improve safety—arguable, I would suggest, but there it is; and plans to give us hope that we’ll have an improved rail service in the future.
That’s strange—it reminds me of our new theme verse for 2012, part of which is also there on page 1. We endeavour, as a Fellowship to be guided by the Lord in any plans we make for the church’s work and witness in Horsham. But it is good to remind ourselves of this: just as God, in his grace and mercy, had plans for his people exiled in Babylon that would prosper them and help them, to give them hope and a future if they would call on him earnestly and seek to obey him, so God has plans for his people today that will bless us and enable us to be a blessing to others around us. But we’ve got to call on him fervently—that’s why our gathered prayer times are so vital and your personal presence is so valuable. But we need to seek him with all our hearts—and that means to obey him from the heart. I trust that the rail plans will improve service and safety at the crossing, but there’s no doubt that the Great Planner—our Lord and God, the Head of the Church, is faithful and certain that his plans will never fail, but succeed wonderfully. Let’s submit to him as we start a new year.
Steve Piggott
Jan 2012
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