I was living in California and I took a bus to a nearby city to visit a Messianic service on Saturdays. There were two buses going to Vista, but I always took the one that went the short route.
One Saturday afternoon I was waiting at the bus stop and the longer-route bus came along first as usual. Suddenly I had a strong urge to get on that bus. I hesitated thinking, "This is crazy, I never take the long route," but the feeling wouldn't go away, in fact it got stronger. Unable to resist, I climbed the steps and sat down in a seat toward the front.
Soon after being seated, I noticed two men across from me. One man had a Bible open and he was preaching hard to the other man, who was a bit disheveled, and had a smell of alcohol. The man with the Bible was really putting it to the other one. He noticed that I had a Star of David necklace on, and our eyes met and actually communicated to each other that yes, we were of the same Kingdom. But the poor man with the alcohol breath wasn't standing up to him, in fact hard as he tried, he couldn't get a word in edgewise and could only muster a "you have no right to judge me" statement which he spoke every time the first man took a breath.
Finally, the bus came to a stop and the man with the Bible got off. I realized this was a setup, from the urge to take this bus which I never would have taken, and after witnessing the scene across from me, but I didn't know what to do. I silently spoke to the Lord and said that if I am to speak to this man, let him say something to me first.
And of course, he did.
I picked up where the man with the Bible left off, but the grace of God came upon me and I spoke to the passenger in a totally different tone of voice. I said to him, "You know, all that that man said to you is true, but he just didn't put it across to you right. He shouldn't have treated you that way." The man looked at me and said, "well you don't have any right to judge me either." "That's true," I said, but I do have the right to tell you that there is a God who loves you and who wants to make your life worth living." He looked at me with tears in his eyes, and his countenance said "continue..." So I spoke the words the Spirit of God gave to me in the moment, and I saw this man visibly let go all the tension that had held him rigid before. He warmed up to me as a little child. His heart took in all I said. I said, "I don't have the right to judge you, but wouldn't you prefer that I do rather than stand in the great judgment before God at the end?" "Yes," he said. I continued, but I don't remember all I said that day, because it was the Spirit of God speaking, not me. As I saw that my bus stop was nearing, I asked him if I could make a request of him. "Yes," he said. I asked him this: "Tonight when you get home, will you go to the Lord and ask him to take over your life and make it worth living?" "I will do that, I promise," he said.
The bus rolled to a stop, and I got up to leave. As I stepped off the bus I could see him in the window waving excitedly and joyfully to me. Tears filled my eyes as I walked away knowing that sometimes the wrong bus can be the right one after all.
