The "inspiration" for this cartoon came to me as I was thinking about how large, corporate churches remind me of large machines. One thought led to another, and I found myself comparing these kinds of churches to the kinds of machines I can sit in, like buses or trains.

I wondered how I could represent my views of traditional Sunday morning church services in the form of sheep riding on a bus or train. After all, in a bus or a train you sit in rows of bench-like seats arranged from front to back. You are likely to spend your trip staring at the back of someone�s head. And, of course, there is always one person behind the wheel controlling where the bus or train goes, just like there�s usually one person in control of what goes on in a church.

Now you may be thinking, "what about airplanes?" Well, they don�t work very well for my analogy because I can�t sleep well on a plane, but I have an easier time sleeping on a bus or a train. I sometimes wish I could sleep through church. In fact, the very existence of "sleeper cars" made a train the compelling choice for my cartoon.

After you have seen the cartoon, please read the comment below it.

Web Shepherd

After I completed the cartoon, I realized that it may be misunderstood. When Lionel is considering leaving the train and walking, he isn�t thinking of just walking out into the desert by himself. He�s thinking that perhaps if he got out and "walked the walk", he might get somewhere in his spiritual life faster than if he stays on the big, comfortable train, which doesn�t seem about to go anywhere. In other words, if he stops depending on rituals and tradition and takes ownership of his faith, he may actually get to where the train conductor claims to be taking him.