I love taking the bus. Originally, I was scared to take the bus because I thought that I would make a scene because I didn't know how to pay for the ride, or would miss my stop or get lost. But it really is simple, and not a problem to ask the bus driver if you are unsure of anything. It was one of those irrational fears that Satan puts in your heart so that you put up barriers and cling to what you know instead of stepping out of your comfort zone as Jesus often calls us to. So now I've grown to love taking the bus. I've had some really awesome conversations with people during the ride and while waiting for the bus to come. One of my favorite conversations was with a young Somali woman who is 24 and is studying to be a surgeon at a school in the Twin Cities. We eventually got into a deep conversation about how the main faith traditions alive today have all oppressed people in the past even though the hearts of those faith traditions are the exact opposite of oppression and injustice. I haven't had the opportunity of talking with many people around my age who live in the neighborhood, so it was great to hear another young person's opinions and life experiences.
Another time, as I was waiting at Rosedale Mall, I had a great conversation with this African American guy who looked to be about my age, but later I found out he had a daughter a couple years younger than me (I'm realizing now that I'm terrible at guessing people's ages haha). As he lit up his cigarette, he told me how someone once asked him what he was living for. It completely caught him off guard and at the time as he thought about it he didn't know. Now he knows what he's living for and asks everyone he knows that question. If they aren't living for what he deems good things, then he gradually separates himself from that person. I asked him what he lives for now and he told me he lives for his kids, to give them a better future and to be a good role model to them. He really values integrity. He told me that he never promised anything to his kids, instead he would just do things for them without telling them beforehand because his own father always told him he would do things but never followed through. Let me correct myself, he doesn't value integrity. He is passionate about integrity. It was really beautiful to hear how he was so intentional about having integrity, especially for his kids. I was not expecting this young-looking man, dressed in a leather jacket, flat bill hat, with earbuds in, lighting up a smoke to voluntarily chat with me about how people should know what they are living for and have integrity. I am continually being humbled and shown that as much as I'd like to think that I don't judge people based on appearances, I really do. We truly cannot know who a person is and what they are about by simply looking at them and need to remind ourselves of this.
Here's one last story for now. Today's bus ride home really opened my eyes to see things in a new light. For those of you who have never ridden a metro transit bus, the front has seats on the sides that face to the middle. After this, there are rows of seats that face the front. The first row of seats that face the front of the bus fold up and someone in a wheelchair is able to fit in that space and get strapped in to secure them in place. There are two spaces for this, the front row on the left side, and the on the right side. As I got on the bus, I sat in the second row. There were two people in wheelchairs in front of me, but at that time I didn't think anything of it. People in wheelchairs and scooters frequently take the route I take, so it seemed normal. What I didn't realize until we made a stop by Har Mar is that the bus only has room for two wheelchairs. Outside, an elderly man manuevered himself to the bus doors waiting for the driver to put the ramp down, but the bus driver had to tell him we were full. With a gentle look of disappointment on his face he turned as everyone else at the stop walked up the stairs to board the bus. I sat there, watching him from the window as he checked his wristwatch and pulled his sleeves back down his arms as far as they could go. If you haven't noticed, it's starting to get cold. Not chilly, I mean cold. This morning as I walked a block to the bus stop, the wind whipped around me and the sting of the air made my hands ache (it's definitely time to break out the mittens! And for us to remember to give the countless pairs of mittens sitting in our houses untouched to those who have none and need them). This man had already waited, and possibly planned his day around catching that bus, but now he had to wait another half an hour in the cold for the next one to come, hoping that bus isn't full too. Why aren't buses designed to fit more than 2 people in wheelchairs? Especially when they can't drive and metro transit may be there main method of transportation? The story doesn't end here. We kept going along our route, and down the road, a woman in a wheelchair I've seen frequently on the bus with a long dark-grey braid and a graceful smile was going to get off. Some people sitting in the very front in the seats which face the center of the bus went in the back so that the woman would be able to get off. One white-haired lady who was sitting in the very front did this. She had lots of really big bags from the mall, and she rested them on the seat next to me, still holding on to them as she she stood in the aisle. The woman with the graceful smile unhooked one side of her wheelchair but couldn't reach the other side and said so aloud asking for assistance. The bus driver usually helps them get unstrapped but the driver was doing something else he needed to do at the time. I wanted to get up and help, but the woman next to me was blocking me both with her bags and her body. I looked up at her and she said in a defensive, almost justifying tone "I can't help her, I've got these" and motioned with her eyes to her shopping bags. "You go." she muttered quietly. I looked at her dumbfounded wondering how she thought I was going to get through her blockade since she showed she had no intention whatsoever of moving to let me through. Thankfully right then the driver came back, unhooked the woman, and she got off the bus. The lady with the bags standing next to me moved back up front without another word. For some reason, I was and still am so struck by her. She would not leave her shopping bags for ten seconds to help unhook the woman, as though I could somehow steal and hide her enormous shopping bags somewhere! She could have even put her bags up at the front no where near anyone and helped the woman. Whether she counsciously thought of what she was doing or not, her actions revealed that at that moment, the things she had bought were more important to her than a person. She was unwilling to let go of her possessions for ten seconds to show love and respect to another human being. And at the same time, blocked everyone excpet for the driver from doing something. How many of us are clutching on to our possessions or wealth and thus choose not to really love people? I know I'm like that. I have more than one coat. More than one pair of mittens, more than one winter scarf, way too many pairs of shoes. How can we serve when our hands are full of our stuff we are unwilling to set aside? Let's really honestly reflect on this and act upon our convictions.
And [John the Baptist] went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins [...] He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance [...] Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”
(Luke 3:3-4,7-14 ESV)
Love and Grace to you as we learn and grow together,
Mindy
