Paying It Forward: The Bus Tale Part Deux

Most people call Christmas the time for miracles, and we've come to somewhat expect the romantic Christmas miracle under the Christmas Tree. It is appropriate as it is the time that our God came down to us as one of us to experience human life and redeem us so we could be with Him forever. Definitely the time for the miraculous. But the Easter Season is a time of miracles, too. There is no greater miracle than His Resurrection. After triumphing over death and raising Himself-- HIMSELF!, all by HIMSELF! (Think about that for a minute.)-- after triumphing over the grave there really is no need for more. It is finished, as He said.

Still, He doesn't stop there. The Almighty generously gives us Himself, His victory, and His glory. Easter is ripe for miracles. The Earth is in bloom. Life is bursting out all over. Healthy babies are being born to parents who've experienced the heartbreaking loss of another child to a birth defect. Hearts are being transplanted, literally and figuratively. Friends who've dreamed for decades of finding the love of a lifetime are falling in love. A cancerous tumor shrinks despite the doctor's prognosis. A husband and wife separated by an entire globe are being reunited just in time for the birth of their first child. And these are just the miracles that I see on my Facebook feed.

Jesus Christ walks among us this Easter and His fingerprints are all over this world, but do we see Him?

It took me all day to see Him today. I was only halfway looking, and that's my problem. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, I thought I was focused on Him. I began my day with my customary rosary while on the bus to work. I put a smile on my face and greeted all I met with hospitality. I had patience and put others before myself. But I didn't recognize Him throughout my day.

Then God broke through. It wasn't as earth shattering as the miracles I listed above but it profoundly touched me. He spoke clearly to me, and I am glad I listened.

I caught the first bus on the way home from work. After the trouble I had last Friday catching the right bus, I worked extra hard at making sure I left work right at 5:00. It's one block to my bus stop and in between is the Walgreen's store that I needed to stop in to get change for my ten dollar bill. I didn't think I would make the 5:09 bus and knew I needed the 5:20, since that was now the last one of the day. But the lights worked with me, and I made the first bus.

Looking back on it, just like last Friday, I was on the right bus all along. It was all God's doing. A woman boarded after me, and proceeded to discuss with the driver the destination. Despite having obvious misgivings, she took a seat a few rows back with another of one of the women that I often ride with. The two of them carried on a amicable conversation. Misty was good at distracting the woman from her worry about whether she was on the right bus.

That's when I knew Jesus was there. My heart was burning, just like it says in the Road to Emmaus scripture (LK 24:13-35). God had provided me with the perfect opportunity to pay it forward. (See my last blog post.) I knew the opportunity would come and I had pledged to myself and God that I would not forget to do something worthy of the kind deed that was done for me. I did not want to become lazy, careless, or selfish after that amazing day. But I did not expect it to be so perfectly lined up.

I had said I would pay it forward, but I imagined that I would have to be creative about how. Oh me of little faith. God provides EVERYTHING, even the opportunities perfect to serve Him.

At the end of the bus ride the woman gathered her things and opened her wallet. I heard her tell Misty that she would just call a cab to take her the rest of the way, as she had in fact gotten on the wrong bus. That was my cue. My heart jumped a bit as I spoke up, knowing half the bus would overhear, "Would you please allow me to take you to your car?"

Startled, she looked at me for the first time, having no clue that God had been nudging me the entire trip to speak to her. She was going to protest.

"Please. This happened to me last week, and a woman offered me a ride. I would be honored to do the same."

Dee accepted and we made our way to my car. I apologized for it being so cluttered, but she said with a joyful smile, "It has four more wheels than I have at the moment."

Dee expressed that she hoped she was not taking me out of the way. She was, but I didn't tell her. I took joy in that. It wasn't an inconvenience, but a pleasure to share the ride with her. She tried to give me the money that she would have paid for the cab. "Oh no! I won't take that. That would ruin the whole thing."

And then I told her how I had promised Maria that I would pay it forward and that the reason that I didn't give Maria money for the ride was because I wanted her to know the joy of selfless giving. That joy that God was giving me again.

"I believe in God-incidences, not coincidences,"she said. I smiled at her and fingered one of the rosaries swinging from my rear-view mirror. Without saying so we both knew that God wanted us to be in that moment. He was there with us, and it was quite miraculous.

"What if God was one of us?...Just a stranger on the bus trying to make His way home.... Yeah, yeah. Good is great. Yeah, yeah. God is good." - Joan Osborne "One of Us"