Tammy On Tuesday ~ “Get On My Bus!”

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After a fitful night of sleep, I was thankful for the beautiful sunrise as I drove my daughter, Abby, to school.  We sat quietly listening to music that created a nice mood for the already beautiful scenery.  It was as though we had fallen into the final moments of a movie…the happy ending…where the credits begin to roll over the frame and you know “all is well.”  It was a welcomed reprieve from the barrage of thoughts in my mind about recent tragedies and the sorrow we face as a people – not just the tragedy in Boston but the condition of our nation as a whole.

In front of the school, the crossing guard stopped us to allow a line of buses to leave the parking lot.  There were probably 10 or 12 that pulled out onto the road and on to other destinations.  As I watched the drivers, my first thought was, “Wow, that’s a big machine to drive!”  I saw men and women alike powering out of the parking lot maneuvering those large yellow boxes of steel.   The look on their faces was “business as usual.”

Hudson and Sophie ride a bus across town to the elementary school they attend.  At the beginning of the year, their bus driver was less than pleasant.  In fact, it created a source of tension for our family.   Each morning, Hudson grew anxious as it came to the time to leave the house and get on the bus.  My kids didn’t pick this bus or bus driver.  The driver was assigned to them by the district.  Word in our neighborhood was that many of the parents had been complaining to the school about our particular bus driver being unfit for the job.  I’m not sure what transpired but, thankfully, things have improved immensely since then.

My thoughts returned to the line of buses exiting the school parking lot.  I’ve often seen them lined up waiting for students to board – taking them from where they were to somewhere else.  These drivers are responsible for a good number of children each and every day.  The children simply get on board.

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In light of all that’s taking place lately, from the bombing in Boston to the heinous abortion tragedy in Philadelphia, to the threat of war from North Korea, to the ongoing sadness that fills the front pages of newspapers and news websites, I began thinking about how we are all like those bus drivers.

The Facebook newsfeed is beleaguered with people expressing their points of view on all that’s taking place in our world.  Many speak with so much confidence it’s as though they are shouting, ”Hey, get on my bus!”

You may be saying…that’s not me!  I don’t know what to think.  I’m afraid!  I want answers.  But the fact is, we are all driving a bus so-to-speak.  We have people that ride our metaphorical bus every day:  our children, our friends, our family, our coworkers.  They are brought along on our trip simply because of their “location”.  It’s those people we’ve been assigned to do life with.  The great burden for us as drivers is to know where we are going.  Do I want to drive this bus based on feelings or assumptions or my limited knowledge of all that is taking place?

I mean it’s easy to be driven by feelings.  We can barrel along honking our horn with great passion and a cry for justice but how can we know the whole truth about all that is going on around us?  How can we know who is to blame?  Who should be punished?  Where we can turn for safety?

While all of these thoughts swarmed in my head, God brought a verse to my mind that poured peace through my body with a warming calm.  Here’s what He said to my heart…

It’s a simple phrase from Genesis 24:27

“I being in the way, the LORD led me.”

I trust in the LORD.  I follow His path and I am confident He will guide me.  I am overjoyed that He is  an ever faithful and all powerful God.  Other scriptures have also comforted my heart as I consider the truth of knowing an Omniscient (all-knowing) and loving God:

 Job 37:16

Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge.

Psalm 147:5

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.

1 Samuel 2:3

Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the LORD is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.

Job 28:24

For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.

Matthew 10:30

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Psalm 139:4

Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

Exodus 14:14

”The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

All throughout scripture, God promises to guide us if we will turn to Him and give Him our lives.

Isaiah 30:21 says, Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or to the left.

There’s my hope.  There’s my confidence.  There’s my route!

Sadly, however, I see around me so much of what Isaiah expressed in his book in the Bible.  He cried out to an unbelieving nation, to a people who had forsaken God.   He told them of God’s mercy and begged them to turn to him.  He expresses in Isaiah 30:15 words of promise followed by solemn words of rebuke.

“This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:  ‘Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it’.”

I turned into the school parking lot and looked over at Abby while she gathered her things.  There’s so much going on in this sin-cursed world she can not comprehend now.  My beautiful daughter, this precious gift,  looks to me to guide her now.  I know that this privilege will not be mine for long.  The choice is up to me.  I’m at the wheel.  I’m responsible for the bus I drive – the precious cargo I carry.  You are too.

Where are you going?   How can you “drive your bus” with confidence? How can you trust that the way you have chosen is the way to life and safety, of peace and joy?  It’s simple…by being “in the way.”

”I, being in the way, the Lord led me.”

The choice is up to you.