Yesterday was a busy news day with the royal birth and a number of big stories in our area of North Texas.  Buried in the headlines was a short story out of Japan about a group of 40 commuters and transit employees joining together to move a 32 ton rail car to free a woman who was entrapped.

Train passengers and railway staff push a train car to rescue a trapped woman at Minami Urawa station. Photograph: Norihiro Shigeta/AP

In a busy rail station north of Tokyo a woman fell into the 8″ gap between a rail car and the platform.  My wife and I traveled all across Japan by train and those train stations can be amazingly busy and hectic.  Train officials announced on overhead speakers that a woman was trapped under a train and a number of commuters lined up to help move the 64,000lb rail car.  The group of workers and volunteers were able to push the car away from the platform so the woman could be pulled out relatively unharmed.  (You can read the brief blurb from The Guardian here.)

I believe we all like stories like the one that came out of Japan yesterday.  Strangers banding together to help someone who had experienced a freak accident.  When that woman left her home the other day she didn’t expect to be in international news or to have a blogger in Texas writing about her.  These stories remind us of the good people who are all around us and of the power of working together.

In my ministry work I have the privilege of seeing groups and individuals do amazing and selfless works for others.  We must not forget that we can accomplish great things together.  We were created by God to do good works (Eph. 2:10).

The church is a gathering of people of like faith who are working to help each other get to heaven and striving to accomplish great things for God in this world.  Sometimes the challenges of this world can feel overwhelming but we must remember that when we work together God can accomplish great things through us.  I honestly struggle to understand how people make it in this world without a loving and supportive church family to prop them up when hard times come.  Accomplishing things together is a great blessing of the church.

That was just a quick thought I had in my mind this morning.  I hope it was a blessing to you.  I also have my weekly family worship guide available for download.  All throughout the summer we have been studying the life of David.  Today’s study is about God’s people working together to bring the Ark of the Covenant back into their midst.  These study guides are family friendly and even include a coloring sheet for the youngest family members.  Check it out >>> Week 30 – Ark of the Covenant