I love bus rides.
I am almost positive that I am the only person on our squad who would still say this, 8 ½ months into the Race.
Sure, sometimes bus rides aren’t fun. There have been many times where all I want is to get off the bus and never step foot on one again. All it takes is a terrible, windy road bathroom experience or sitting next to someone who smells bad and it gets a little harder to enjoy.
But for the most part I enjoy it. I love that I get to talk to friends and do silly traditions like “4:30am cracker time”, that I get to read books, that I have finally mastered the art of bus sleeping and that I can look out the window and see the Lords creation all around me. When in a bus you also see way more of a country than you would flying, which is pretty sweet.
Bus rides are the best places to think too, I put on music and look out the window for hours at a time. Out of all of my time with Jesus on the Race I would say that the times I spent with Him have been the sweetest and most fruitful on bus rides.
My team was on a bus last week from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. It was only 6 ½ hours and I sat with a Cambodian man for some of it, but for the majority of the time I had both seats to myself, which automatically makes any bus ride awesome!
I put in my headphones and went back and forth between reading and looking out the window talking to Papa. As we were driving we were passing little huts and for just a brief second I saw a man and it was just long enough for God to speak to me through it.
I saw a man squatting down looking over at a swamp, a trash filled, disgusting swamp. Right behind the swamp was a thin line of trees then a beautiful river was directly behind the trees, within plain view. I chuckled at the man enjoying the swamp-but missing out on the gorgeous river.
I suddenly felt Jesus quietly getting my attention. Suddenly I was picturing myself sitting at my desk at home, only lit by a candle. It was so peaceful. Sprawled all over the desk were pages and pages of writing. Each one full of blessings I have been given, opportunities I have and ways that Jesus continues to just show up. But there was one page in the middle of them all, one page out of many. I immediately looked at that one and it was about the messy parts of life, the dirty mess ups I have made, the hard things people have said and done to me. It was full of the negative parts of life. The page was surrounded by blessings but I could not look away from the stinky, ugly mess. I couldn’t stop looking at the swamp, even though the river was just one glance away.
Jesus was showing me that I am no different from that Cambodian man, that I too focus on the crap instead of the beauty. He was showing me, quietly whispering in my ear for me to put the page down, look away from the swamp and soak in the beauty of the river; the never ending flow of blessings that He has for me and will continue to show me.
I am begging you to join me, stop looking at your swamp and instead look at the river. Soak it in.
