Bus Talk
September 22, 2009
I hopped on the bus that takes me downtown for language study. I often use the 30-minute bus ride to listen to Japanese language CDs, go over vocabulary, or pray that God would simply download Japanese into my brain. But this ride would be different. The first man on the bus, after me, was an older gentleman. Now, most days I make bets with myself to guess whether anyone will have the courage to sit by the lone foreigner on the bus. The seat next to me normally remains unoccupied. (Is it my aftershave?) But, with every seat on the bus open, this gentleman walks straight to the back and sits down next to me! I had chosen the back bench this day, so there was a little room between us, but it was obvious that he certainly wasn’t shying away from the foreigner.
And then…it happened. He started talking to me! In English! Turns out, he has lived a third of his life abroad, and picked up English here and there. He was very friendly and I got off the bus that day with an invitation to come by and meet his family. He lives in my neighborhood, so I took my family over to his house a few days later. We met his wife, his daughter-in-law, his grandchildren and several of his neighbors. We talked for a while out on the street and his neighbor across the street even invited our kids in to use her toilet when it became obvious that our daughter was not going to make it home. That allowed Christina and her to talk for a bit and exchange contact information.
That night, I was asking God to help us find ways to stay in contact with our new friends, when my prayer was “interrupted” by a phone call. It was my bus friend. He told me that his grandson had just gotten a new bicycle and that he would like to give our son his old one, which was still in good condition. (They had seen our son riding around on a little tricycle that evening.) He told me he was going to repair the wheel and then he would like to give it to us. God has given us ways to keep in contact with this family and even their neighbors too! Please pray that this encounter will result in trusting friendships and opportunities to share the Gospel. Please God, prepare their hearts to hear the Gospel and believe! May we be obedient to speak of Christ and His salvation.
written by Matt Parsley
