Old Ruddy’s Questions: The Question I Never Answered
And now it’s time for a great big Old Ruddy’s Questions SPOILER POST!
Do you like spoiler posts? That’s a totally different topic to get into. Personally, I’ve got a little lingering fondness for having a book spoiled—at least a little bit spoiled—before I read it.
Unless it’s a mystery.
Repeat that in all caps: UNLESS IT’S A MYSTERY!
Old Ruddy’s Questions isn’t a mystery. However, if you are a die-hard don’t-you-dare-spoil-it-for-me reader, allow me to gently suggest that we have many other fine posts for you to read, that are absolutely spoiler-free.
This one—ahem!—isn’t. But if you don’t mind spoilers—or you’ve already finished the book—then read on.
A Story of Questions
Old Ruddy’s Questions is exactly what its name implies—a story that’s built around questions.
After all, the whole book is built around the hymn “Art Thou Weary, Art Thou Languid?” and John Mason Neale asks no fewer than seven questions in the course of its seven verses.
But Old Ruddy’s Questions is a story of answers, too. In fact, when I was working on the first draft, I saw the answers as so integral to the focus of the story, that I actually considered calling the finished product Old Ruddy’s Answers, instead. In the end, I’m glad I didn’t. I like Old Ruddy’s Questions as a title. And I think it’s ultimately the questions, not the answers, that drive the plot forward.
Ruddy’s First Question
But in spite of the seven questions that came from the hymn—or maybe it’d be more accurate to say, on top of the seven questions that came from the hymn—Old Ruddy starts his story with a question that’s all his own.
(Here’s where the first mild spoiler pokes up its head.)
Because before Old Ruddy has questions about Jesus, or questions about salvation, or questions about the Christian life and its reward, Old Ruddy is grappling with a query that has left him slumped and dejected on the railway bench.
And that question is a very simple one: “What is going to happen to me, when I get too old to work at the station.”
Does the Question Have an Answer?
Old Ruddy is almost vanquished by this question when the story starts. His desperation—and the kindness of a nameless Christian—embark him on an unusual quest to find meaning in something bigger than his lifelong railway career. And that quest leads him ultimately (here come more spoilers!) not only to know Christ personally, but also to challenge and transform the life of each Christian he questions along the way.
Old Ruddy finds what he needs most—the Saviour he didn’t even realize could touch his soul.
But did he ever get his very first question answered?
(Ultimate spoiler here.)
No!
At least not in the story.
By the last page, Old Ruddy’s life has been radically transformed. But the question he started with remains unanswered. Ruddy still doesn’t know what his earthly future will hold. He still doesn’t know what will happen when he grows too old to work anymore at his beloved railway station.
Questions Without Answers
Life is full on unanswered questions. Every one of us faces a future. Not a single one of us truly knows what that future may hold.
That’s simply part of life on this earth.
Just like Old Ruddy, our hearts are stirred by questions that—at least for now—go unanswered.
But the amazing thing about this life is that God takes those unanswered questions, and He uses them to gently push us towards the questions that really matter.
What happens tomorrow isn’t the answer we need to find today.
The answer we need, is the answer of a Saviour right now.
That’s the answer Old Ruddy found. I pray it’s the answer you’ve found, too!
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Old Ruddy’s Questions has been a special project all the way through, and I’m so eager to share it with all of you, now!
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