As the Footplate Padre in 2009 I was guest of the late Dave Moyle in Wahgunyah in rural Victoria and took a photograph on a straight section of railway track and has been reflecting on it ever since.
January each year, is the month we tackle a new year afresh. The holiday summer period is in high order, the schools are a month away from returning, the routine of another year is yet to get under way.
It is this annual January situation and the photograph of the straight railway line that set my mind racing.
I reflected on the photograph I took in November 2009 between Rutherglen and Lilliput, near Springhurst in Victoria, of that 'straight track ahead' and how impinges on our philosophy of life and world views.
I was a guest of Dave Moyle in Wahgunyah in rural Victoria, the editor of On Track, the E-railway magazine of the Stringybark Express Museum and Heritage Park.
This community association has two projects, the first was the Wahgunyah Beach Railway, a plan to run a two foot gauge (sugar cane train) tourist train where the former VR lines ran along the bank of the Murray River.
The second project was a shuttle and tourist light rail train between Springhurst and Rutherglen on the old broad gauge. One of the responsibilities of the association is to keep that section of track maintained.
Dave Moyle took me, as the Footplate Padre, for an inspection run on that track on the road-rail truck where the rail wheels get lowered, which I enjoyed immensely.
The straight track doesn't show any houses or building or industrial complexes, it's just the Australian bush and a straight railway line.
As I plan ahead to January and another new year, to me the imagery produced in this photograph has great poignancy.
The Christian has many distractions, and the Bible speaks of a determination to neither look to the left or the right in following the Lord Jesus.
As this new year is not that far away, I was drawn to this imagery which is reflected by this straight railway track. My focus as a Christian man is on Jesus, and His Salvation; finding means of integrity to share that good-news.
I pray and hope as I plan the year ahead, I might communicate better with my readers and rejoice in this good news.
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand. Dr Mark Tronson’s Press Service International in 2019 was awarded the Australasian Religious Press Association’s premier award, The Gutenberg.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html