The Same Bus?!?

Three. That’s the number of times we have had the same bus break down on us this summer. The first time ended up being pretty comedic and an adventure, though it didn’t feel like it in the moment as I was hangry. We were in a national park in the dark, about a mile from a herd of elephants, and had to hitchhike with a tour guide to a military checkpoint. The second was honestly frustrating. They gave us the exact same bus the next morning without fixing a single thing. They simply wiped the smoke from the windows and said “It’s fine!” The third was this past weekend, on the way back from a place called Nyamphande. By this third time all of us were fed up. Why in the world would they give us the same bus without fixing anything again?!? However, God quickly answered that question for us.

As we are cruising along, 20 minutes into our “2 hour” bus ride home, I hear the engine slowly fade to nothing. Hmm, familiar sound. I watch the driver move the gear shift , turn the key, and attempt to get the engine going again, but no luck. We coast to the side of the road and the driver and his helper get out to grab coolant and come check the battery that is under my seat. They try a few things, but to no avail. As a team we decide to pray over the bus, because with the problems it had it was only by a miracle it would start again and take us all the way to Lusaka. Still no luck. Morale is going down and frustration is rising. Did they really have to give us the same bus? Was there really no other bus they could send?
As we sit there a teen boy runs up. “I saw your bus stop and I came running! It has been 5 days since I have eaten. Do you have food or money?” He is out of breath, and clearly desperate. We quickly gather what snacks we have on the bus, and even find a random bag of rice we didn’t realize we had grabbed. One teammate quickly hands up her tote bag to put everything in. The boy immediately opens a bag of popcorn and begins eating. As he is standing there with our leader, she asks him if he knows who Jesus is. He doesn’t. She asks him if she can read him a verse, and he agrees. She begins to read about Jesus being the bread of life and living water, and shares what He says about never thirsting again. After sharing this, she prays over him. Before he leaves, a teammate from the back asks us to ask him if he can read English. He cannot, but his grandmother can. The teammate asks if he would like her Bible and he says yes. She hands it through the window to him, he takes it, and just like that he disappears back into the brush he came from.

At this point I’ve accepted our fate: a four hour wait for a new bus that’s “on its way” every time you ask the bus company for an update. I sit there, ready to either get off the bus and sit in the blazing sun or stay on the sticky, stinky bus for a significant chunk of my day. Suddenly the click of the key turning in the ignition and the whir of the engine. Did the bus really just start?!? Cheers erupt as we all realize that this means we can keep driving. We all look around in awe. Morale went from 0-10 very quickly as we realized what the Lord had done. Had the bus not broken down, we wouldn’t have met that boy. He wouldn’t have food, and more importantly he wouldn’t have heard about Jesus. Wow Lord. You really just allowed the bus to break down where it did so this boy could encounter you. My comfort and day are totally worth sacrificing for the sake of gaining a brother in Christ!

Unfortunately the bus ends up stopping two more times, and the second we have to wait four hours for a new bus that the driver lied about calling to come earlier in the day, but it is all worth it for the sake of the kingdom! Sure, I wouldn’t choose to ride in that bus again. I wouldn’t choose to sit on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for four hours. I wouldn’t choose to have to wait for a significantly smaller bus that we all have to squish into. But if we weren’t on that bus that day, that boy may not have met Jesus that morning. If God hadn’t chosen to put us in the situation He did, that boy may still be hungry, both physically and spiritually. So though I didn’t love having the bus break down on us again, I thank the Lord that His plan is better and more beautiful than my own.