When you are driving along and you approach a railroad crossing, what is usually your first thought? Is it something like, "please no train today, I’m already late." Do you will that gate not to lower and those red lights not to flash just so you can get to whatever destination you set out to reach when you got in your car?

Me too. Until Cory.

Cory is a former resident of mine from my houseparenting days and he is absolutely nuts about trains. There’s a track that runs through the next town over from Gateway and he would often ask me to take him to the crossing just so we could sit and watch for a train. "Slow down," he would tell me, every time we happened upon a crossing while out on an errand, just in case a train was coming. If it was, maybe – just maybe – he’d be able to catch a glimpse of it as we crossed the tracks. He even asked me to take him to the tracks so we could do a photo session next to a train car.

"One man’s trash is another man’s treasure."

Cory’s anticipation and excitement at even the chance of catching a glimpse of a locomotive flooded me with memories the other day when he reached out to ask for those pictures. How many of us think of stopping for a train to pass as trash? To Cory, it was such a treasure.

Cory taught me the importance of slowing down and enjoying the little things in life – even if it meant practicing my patience by waiting on a train to pass. As you embark on this year of 2019 with full steam, remember to slow down and enjoy the little things. And maybe – just maybe – you can catch a glimpse of God coming down the track to teach you something.