Some problems require unconventional solutions

Overhearing this innocent question from a doe-eyed five-year-old to her grandfather made me laugh out loud as I stood at Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, Pa. My wife, Carol, and I stop there often to take a break from the eight-hour drive to visit our son at the University of Pittsburgh. On this occasion, we spent an hour watching several of the 40 daily freight trains that traverse this narrow pass through the Appalachian Mountains on the main rail line between Philadelphia and Chicago. (Yes, I am an unrepentant train enthusiast!)

It was right in front of her, the tracks wrapping around us as one train, 12 engines strong, thundered past. Horseshoe Curve bears its name because the railroad is in the shape of a horseshoe as it makes its way around the sides of the mountains surrounding the Kittanning Valley and the Altoona City Reservoir.

Horseshoe Curve solved an “unsolvable” problem by using an unconventional solution: instead of going straight from Point A to Point B, The Curve took an indirect but gentler route to get to the same place. J. Edgar Thompson’s 1854 design, called by some “The Eighth Engineering

Wonder of the World,” allowed the railroad to get through the mountains and reduced travel time from days to hours. (Visit www.railroadcity.com and scroll to “Horseshoe Curve” for engineering details.)

The Rev. Brian Bodt

Solving challenges is a part of ministry, and one way is to use unconventional solutions. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches, including our own, have changed – literally overnight – from having no broadcast ministry to streaming worship on Zoom, Facebook and YouTube. Worship in our congregation has been shortened for the new medium and is outside during July and August. Our “Dinner for a Dollar” feeding ministry adapted to “takeout only” while following Quinnipiack Valley Health District guidelines for safe food handling. Church meetings and study groups met on Zoom. As we prepare now to return to our building, we have teams trained to clean and disinfect after each use. None of these challenges was anticipated six months ago. Responding to all of them has required flexibility. Overcoming these challenges has required, and will continue to require, decisions by church leaders to adapt and not become fossilized by ineffective strategies or hoping that the challenges will just go away.

The horseshoe – unconventional solutions to our ministry and life challenges – is likely right in front of us. Solutions mean being bold to ask for help and to (re-) appropriate the spiritual riches entrusted to us. When the world says, “You’re crazy,” the apostle says, “I will pour out my Spirit” (Acts 2:17b). When the world says, “Hurry up,” God says, “Nor are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8b). When the world says, “That’s impossible,” Jesus says, “for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26b)

It is a telephone call, a text, an email, a conversation and, most importantly, a prayer away.