Lessons from a Bus Ride
Once on the bus, I questioned the driver about the next connection to Concord and by the look on his face, I thought I might be in trouble. He said that since not many people took the bus to Concord, the last one might have already left, but he assured me that he would help me figure it out. He contemplated that if the last bus had already left, they might give me a courtesy van to my destination since I had been misinformed at the airport and was from out of town. Okay, so now I am trusting God that He will take care of the situation and I will be riding in luxury to my hotel. Wrong—the last bus had already left and no one offered me a luxury van for free, but they did advise me that if I took another bus to the end of the line and then got off I could get a cab from there and it would not be very far. All right, I can do this—the bus was already parked at the station so I ran for it, but there was no need to because we were made to stand in the hot humid terminal for 15 minutes before departure. It did give me time to find out more about what I would need this time—only the transfer that I had been given on the first bus, which was who knows where in the huge purse I was carrying. It was located just in time, but then I couldn’t figure out where to put it in for validation—these people thought I was nuts too!
Finally, looking around the bus I realize that I am the only white face on it, when a toothless man offered to help me with my luggage—thank you, Lord for the kindness of strangers. I took a seat next to an older woman, but could tell she really did not want me there, so when I struck up a conversation with her I think she was a bit apprehensive. I found out she was getting off at Burger King and she said I had a loooong way to go for my stop. So I decided it was time to make friends with another bus driver and meandered to the front of the bus to question her regarding my next steps. She was so helpful and informed me where the last and safest stop to get off would be and even told me the number of the cab company so that I could have them waiting for me upon arrival at the bus stop. I feel that I am almost home free, until the cab company told me that they had to have a physical address in order to pick my up and I did not have one. As I got off the bus and walked to the Petro Express Gas Station to find out their physical address for the cab pickup, I was musing to myself, “Should I have spent the $75 to avoid the bus experience?” and I had to say, “no way!”—not because I had saved the money, but because of the lessons it taught me. I could have paid the money, but would not have had the adventure or the lessons along the way.
I had made some assumptions that God would take care of each circumstance, after all I was going to this conference for Him—the van would be waiting at the airport and it wasn’t; the bus to Concord would be there or I would get a free van ride to my destination; the cab would be waiting at the drop off point for me. None of these things happened and truthfully I am glad, because if they had it would be easy for me to love God, because He was my “gimmee God”—I ask and He gives. Instead it showed me that no matter what He is still with me and will take care of me, not in my way but in His way, using wonderful, kind people all along the way. As I snuggled into bed that night, I praised God Almighty, Sovereign God of the Universe and thanked Him for each and every person who helped me along the way and for the fact that I only had to spend $17.75.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
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