I set out from my home at 8.50 in the morning with the intention of collecting a few items from the chemists before catching the 9.20 number X bus to Porthcawl, a seaside town a few miles from where I was living. I was looking forward to a very enjoyable day at the Christian writers seminar held at the Rest home for the elderly there. I had attended the previous year's seminar and anticipated meeting up once again with some very interesting people, with 'What have you been doing these last twelve months? ' being the topic of conversation around the dining table during lunch. I hurried from the chemist with the 'two for the price of one' Dove deodorants and the 'Awakening' perfume tucked into my already bulging handbag, and headed for the bus station.
'Five minutes to spare'. I thought as I looked at the two clocks displaying different times above the job centre, which was in front of the bus station. I had opted for the one on the right which had previously proved to be correct. Once again I pondered on how anybody could come up with the idea of placing two clocks side by side facing away from the bus station, and not one facing towards it. Several people were in the bus shelter at stop one and two, the latter of which would be where the X7 would pull in. I sat down next to a young man with a shaved head for a few minutes and then, thinking it unwise to have my back turned to the stop, got up again. No sooner was I on my feet than a bus sped past the shelter. 'My bus!' I gasped, as I caught a glimpse of 'X7' above the windscreen. 'Oh no' I moaned inwardly, as I ran as fast as my boots and long Winter coat would allow me. Another would be passenger was a few yards ahead of me, banging on the side of the bus. The driver sped on with the obvious intention of not stopping. I eventually stopped running right outside the bus company's office. Both annoyance and curiosity climbed with me up the stars to where three drivers were relaxing in a cloud of cigarette smoke. 'Doesn't the X7 stop at stop two? I enquired, ready with 'Well it didn't after the anticipated 'Yes'. 'Not the one to Cardiff' said one driver, disappearing behind a cloud of exhaled smoke, who obviously had a much clearer picture of the situation than I did. If you want the one to Porthcawl you had better urn, it will be in just about now' he said, glancing at his watch. I hurried down the stairs with new companions, humility and gratitude, and we ran back to the bus station.
That was my hundred yard sprint for the day'. I said to the man who had banged on the bus. 'Where are you going?' 'To Cardiff' he said. I felt sorry that he had been at the wrong stop, and pointed out which stop he should be standing at. At least he would not miss the next one. Then the young man with the shaved head started chatting, and asked if I was going to Porthcawl. 'Yes', I said, 'Fancy that driver not stopping when that man was banging on the bus, I would have , wouldn't you?' 'Yes' he replied. I told him I was going to a writers' seminar and we chatted until the bus came in. We both got on the bus and he sat a few seats behind me.
As the bus journeyed on I was reminded of the fact that I had some evangelical poetry in my bag which I give out in the street. My first thought was to give the young man a leaflet, and then reasoning set in. Was it my familiar enemy, complacency, pointing out the bulging handbag, and the need to fill the seat beside me with it's contents in order to reach the poetry? What should I do? I must 'go out into the highways and the byways', but also I must not give that which is holy to 'dogs', the spiritual term for 'outsiders'. Which instruction was for this man? I suddenly noticed a flock of crows over a ploughed field, and the song 'We plough the fields and scatter' came into my mind with 'the good seed on the ground' following. Whether they were the actual words of the song I do not know. 'Ah! I scatter the seed' I thought. Then chasing after the wrong bus came into my mind. 'Help me Lord,' I said in my heart. 'I feel You are telling me something but I don't quite know what'. There was a sudden shout from behind me. 'Who-oh', cried the young man with the shaved head. The driver stopped the bus and I realized that an elderly man had been running to catch it. The driver hadn't stopped at the bus stop because nobody had been on it.
The Lord's message was now very clear. I was to give the young man the leaflet. In believing that the bus which had sped past me in the bus station was my bus, I had experienced all the anxiety of missing it, the disappointment of not being at the seminar and the meeting old friends, just because a driver had not cared enough to stop and pick me up. How much greater grief would be suffered if somebody could be hindered from coming to Christ because I had failed to share the gospel of salvation. This young man had cared enough about the elderly man to make sure that he caught his bus. My criticism of the first driver not stopping was now my judge. What joy to hand my leaflet to the smiling young man as he got off the bus bidding me 'Cheerio' and to say to him 'I don't want you to miss the bus, you will understand when you read it.' 'Thank you' he said, still helping others as he said to me 'You need to get off at the next stop'.
What had I learned from this incident? I had learned not to worry if things did not run smoothly all the time, and that everything that happened in my life, including running for the wrong bus, was all happening for a purpose, and that empathy and experience were of great importance. They were the forerunners of sympathy and understanding, without which I probably would not be moved to want to see others saved. I had also learned how important it is to constantly be alert to how God speaks through everyday occurrences. I believe that even my buying the 'Dove' deodorant and the 'Awakening' perfume on that day was signalling a spiritual awakening, and it was to be this young man's. Keeping in touch constantly with the Lord in order to hear what He might be saying is very important. This was emphasized to me a couple of days later when I was in work, cleaning a nightclub during the daytime with my friend. On this particular day the young barman's mobile phone was on the bar and it was ringing. The barman was in the cellar and I thought 'What is the point of having a mobile phone if he doesn't carry it with him?'
God has a plan for every one of us and can speak to us as individuals in many ways.... if we keep our 'mobile' on.
'Accept all things that come your way, they're meant for you alone. God may be working things for good, and that's not just your own. For there are others on the path, our Lord alone knows who, that through our tribulation may gain salvation too'
