bon voyage (part 2)

Lessons From the Bus: there's always room for more

“That bus is too full to bother stopping for more people!” I exclaimed as I watched the crowded to overflowing bus slow down at the bus stop. The doors can barely close around those already on the bus. As we walked the city streets, we would look at these buses in wonder. Even when temperatures are boiling, walking seemed a better option.

Yet we found that going downtown is the easiest bus system to figure out from our house and in the middle of the day, there are not too many people. Anyway, once you pay 25 cents per person on the bus it is hard to take a taxi and pay three dollars.

One day we were invited to some friends’ house on the other side of town, we thought we would try a bus instead of our usual taxi ride to their house. We needed blue bus #8. After waiting by the road awhile where we thought this bus would pass, we asked a nearby vendor when that bus would pass. He told us it did not pass on that road, but gladly told us which white bus would take us to where we were going.

So, along came white bus #34 and we were faced with a dilemma. It was shock full of people. I was convinced that there was absolutely no room for us on there. But, we had already waited a long time and we needed to get going. We bravely stepped up into the bus with faith that we would fit. Sure enough, with a little wiggling and pushing we got on.

It was so full you didn’t really need to hang on, everyone held each other up by just being there. A grandma who was sitting near me offered to hold our son for me. That was a relief, but a bit disconcerting to him. The lady jabbered to me in her dialect about our son.

Suddenly I realized a man three or four people over was talking to me, wait, he was translating into French what this lady was saying. Warmth flooded over me as I realized how kind people were being. Here we had squeezed in, for sure making it a bit more uncomfortable for some, and yet kindness was extended. As soon as a seat was empty, others pointed to it and offered it to me so I could have my son with me.

It was at that moment, as I contemplated the kindness on this overflowing bus and reminisced over past bus experiences, that I got the idea of writing about lessons learned from the bus.

How often do I get overwhelmed if there are more people needing to be invited for dinner than I prepared food for? What about a kids program that I must run and 10 visitors show up and I don’t have enough materials for everyone?

I realized there on the bus that as daughter of the King, I have all the resources I need by just spending time with Him. After that, there will always be room for one more in my class, in my car, in my house, at my table or in my friendships. Not only is He my bus driver, but He is also my bus walls and doors and tires. And just like in the bus, there may be times when it feels like there are too many and yet it is only uncomfortable for a bit, and then someone gets off the bus.

“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” 2 Cor. 12:9,10 [Emphasis added]

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Eph. 4:32 [Emphasis added]

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