Every generation faces the future with trepidation and hope, says Jack Harnish, yet the certainty of faith in a God who travels with us wherever the journey takes us gives us confidence.
JOHN E. HARNISH
Retired Pastor, Michigan Conference
Everyone in Benzie County is familiar with Bruce Catton’s book Waiting for the Morning Train, where the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Civil War classics reflects on growing up in our corner of northern Michigan.
In the foreword, his son writes, “An inveterate train lover, I have always liked the book’s underlying metaphor: teenage youth, about to enter adulthood, is waiting for the morning train bound to some unknown destination; old age in its turn waits for the night train, similarly bound.” I like the metaphor, too. In both youth and old age, we are in a very real sense waiting for the morning or evening train.
Right now, I am thinking about my granddaughters going back to school, my grandson going back to college, all our kids waiting for the morning train in the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Today, young adults face a very uncertain world.
Ongoing death and destruction in Gaza and the war of aggression in Ukraine, tariffs and federal spending deficits predict a tight job market, the daily undermining of our democratic values, and the list goes on.
But of course, many of us entered adulthood in uncertain times. Children of the 60s remember the Vietnam War and the weight of the draft card in our pockets. The generation before us faced a world at war, sending many of them to fight in Europe or the Pacific. We also faced the future with both trepidation and hope.
Bruce Catton writes, “Youth is a baffling time. The present moment is nice but it doesn’t last long. Living in it is like waiting in a junction town for the morning limited. Someday you have to leave it and you don’t know where the limited will take you. Sooner or later you must move down an unknown road that leads beyond the range of the imagination, and the only certainty is that the trip has to be made.”
The preacher in me wants to say there is at least one other certainty — faith in a God who travels with us wherever the journey takes us. In an uncertain world, God’s presence is one source of confidence.
So, “all aboard” for our students at the start of a new school year and for young adults heading into the future. Your morning train awaits to carry you forward. And for the rest of us, the evening train awaits to carry us into an unknown future as well.
For travelers of every age, here is a benediction I found at the Chautauqua Institution in New York: “May the peace of Christ go with you, wherever you are sent. May the light of Christ surround you, protecting you through the storms. May the love of Christ guide you, and oh, the wonders you will see. And may God lead you home beside still waters, home from distant shores. Amen.”
Last Updated on September 10, 2025