My new schedule now consists of working MWF mornings, and afternoons at the same after school 'child care' at an elementary school..with a two hour class in between there. Tuesdays and Thursdays are chalk full of a 4:30am wake up time to hit the gym, come home shower by 7:42 where I hop on the bus and chat with my new found friend- a retired gentlemen that's on his way to a hotel for a morning swim to keep his health up ;), then classes straight through from the strike of 8:00am- 4:00 pm. (gross)
My new friend the first day of class started conversing with me a few minutes after I hopped on the bus. However, I had my headphones on, and I didn't even notice at first when he was striking conversation, that happens a lot, but when I figured it out thought it was probably a simple "Hello!" BUT it turned into full-fledged conversation all the way to our desired bus stop.
WARNING: selfish-sinner alert!
At first, I was quite irritated and annoyed. "Wasn't my hello back and smile enough? Didn't you see I had headphones in and listening to music? I don't know you. Come on dude!" I really value the few minutes I have "to myself" with ear buds in and contemplating the sweet words that are filling my ears (worship music that is, can you believe those thoughts even occurred? Gag). Besides, every other college person on this bus is staring with what seemed to be rather condescending eyes (isn't that what we always think? I was definitely wondering what they thought of me...), watching me talk to an obvious stranger, especially an 'old guy', what in the world is she doing? (my face literally became hot and I'm sure red) Then I remembered the prayer I said while walking to the bus just moments before- asking to have patience and joy on this busy and packed day I was dreading....and for me to see opportunities to serve Him and show His love. --BOOM--
All of a sudden I literally envisioned Jesus being the one sitting next to Lyle on Cyride, I instantly had a sudden change of heart, and seriously enjoyed our conversation with sheer joy. How selfish of me to covet even 12 minutes of a bumpy bus route, of "my time". It's because of Jesus I even woke up that morning to decide how to spend "my time". Goodness gracious I'm so glad he had grace on me at that moment where the Holy Spirit piped in and gave me joy in speaking to this gentleman. We even got on the topic of God in our few short minutes. He made a comment about how my major in elementary education is such a time-consuming and rewarding job, that unfortunately gets paid so very little; and then followed up with, "but the Lord is good to us always". I got this giant smile and said, "He sure is!". He immediately asked if I go to a church here in Ames where I responded with Cornerstone, and he made a reference of knowing where that church was, and then it was time to go! We said our goodbyes and he said he'd see me next time!
My wonderful husband took me to class today (Thursday) because he was on his way home from Men's Group and his car was already warm and said "he'd love to take me to class"! So, I missed the opportunity to chat with Lyle today, I was honestly bummed! :) So maybe on Tuesday!!
I'm going to ask God to give me courage to ask him about where he might be attending church and expand more on Jesus. :)
Praise God for blessing me with opportunities to either maybe meet the only other person who's a "brother in Him" on that bus to be an encouragement and source of joy for the daunting day, or a potential chance to share Christ's love on a deeper sense/conversation! Thanks God!
You seriously never know how God wants to bless you, I want to work on being open to his blessings through obedience to Him. Because on that fine morning, I was SO blessed by talking to this gentleman!
All glory to HIM, no matter where we are or what we're doing!
1 comment:
Whew! I'm glad I actually like this. I got scared when I read you had a new friend!
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