T time for God

Getting from on place to another is an adventure up here. I spend about 2 hours on the subway (called the T) here in Boston everyday. That's a good chunk of time--over 8% of my day--and I've been wanting to use it toward our mission up here somehow. Such a great cross-section of the population is within reach (literally) everyday on the T. I've heard of people testing the culture of a city by asking random people on the subway questions, but I'm not quite to the point where I'd be comfortable doing that. (You'd be amazed how absolutely silent a train car with perhaps 150 people packed into it is during the commute hours. Any conversation above a whisper will be heard by dozens of other people, and I generally don't like my private conversations overheard.) Perhaps someday I'll work up the nerve, but for now I've decided on another option.

I know you'll think I must be slow for taking 7 months to figure this out, but I've decided to read my Bible on the T. It's such a great idea! I've been lagging way behind in my Bible reading, so this gives me some set-aside time to do it each day with the added benefit of being a subtle (but visible and obvious) follower of Christ in the city. Being easily associated with Jesus on the T has the added benefit of making me more aware of my surroundings (it'd be horrible to sit obliviously reading while an elderly or pregnant person stands right in front of me!). In fact, having my Bible out and open has even provided the starting point for a few (short) converstations. For instance, a nicely dressed black gentleman today said on his way off the train "Hey man, that's cool [gesturing at my Bible]. What church do you go to?" Now that's a question I usually take a little bit of time to answer and explain, but since I only had about 5 seconds I replied, "Actually, I moved up here with a few friends to start one." He seemed to approve, but the few people remaining on the train didn't make eye contact with me for the rest of the trip (not that that should be surprising--no one ever makes eye contact with anyone else on the train, that's probably why advertising on the T is such a great idea).

I've even starting noticing other people who do the same thing. Today there was a lady who had a Bible open when I got on, and last Friday there was a man reading out of Romans (in the tiniest Bible I've ever seen). I've not yet approached another like-minded soul, but perhaps someday soon I will.

Let the conversations begin.