So I spend most of my time at home. I am very tired most of the time.
Tonight had to run an important errand. It required me to be out late on my own, on the bus.
My friend who keeps the closest track of me is fine with me running around by myself at night. Above and beyond Jesus protects me, I have great street skills. Between the two, he doesn’t worry very much.
Tonight proved why he feels this way.
Sitting at the back of the bus (don’t own a car for many reasons) tonight and three people get on. One leaves a handwritten sign with the usual bus ads. Says some weird statement about embracing goodness and greenhouses.
The guy across from me dressed like a gangsta. Soon determine he IS a gangsta and not a poser. Note very large knife/short sword and guess it isn’t because he collects. That’s a weapon.
Soon see he is also packing a very decent size gun under his sweatshirt.
I think weapons on the bus are illegal but obviously this doesn’t stop anyone.
For all that, he has a sweet spirit. I feel he is a fundamentally nice person and really confused why a kind person is packing and obviously involved in illegal stuff.
Anyhow, there is obviously a potential situation and someone to be kept calm. So that is what I did. And honestly liked him too.
He is rummaging through all this stuff. I idly wonder how much is his and how much he stole. Hard to tell. Maybe some, maybe none.
He finally turns around and is friendly. Plys me with Reese’s white chocolate peanut butter cups. I politely decline.
He pushes a bit, and I took him up on it. Less likely to die from Reese’s than a bullet after all.
He turns and offers one to an older Native guy, who politely refuses. Older Hispanic lady who has obviously sized up the situation accepts with gratitude.
So there we are, eating Reese’s, and he is talking about breaking bread. I say breaking Reese’s even better than bread, and laugh.
He shows me all his other candy, including Jolly Ranchers. I tell him how I grew up near a Jolly Ranchers factory, and how you would drive by and there would be a super sweet smell.
Sharing is caring, he says. He plies me with the last Reese’s and I refuse but he insists. So I take it, eat it, thank him. Say I haven’t had anything sweet in awhile so appreciate it.
Ask where his stop is, want to make sure he doesn’t miss it.
He talks about weed and how he likes weed but it makes you hungry. I say weed does that. Tell him about Girl Scouts selling cookies outside of weed dispensaries.
By this time his stop has come up. He grabs all his stuff and gets off. I tell him, the Lord bless you, have a good night. And he leaves.
It was a genuinely pleasant encounter; I actually liked him. What is a sweet guy like that doing in all that trouble, I wondered.
Then Hispanic lady starts talking, saying yes she noticed the gun.
And that he was on crystal.
What??
She went on about how nice he was and how unusual that was for someone on crystal. Usually they’re mean, she said. They just shoot you.
I digested this. Then asked, what is crystal?
Crystal meth, she said.
Oh.
So nice guy packing a good size gun and a very large knife was on METH. And she didn’t understand why he wasn’t mean!
I silently praised Jesus. He closed the mouth of the lion and preserved my life AGAIN. And not just mine but the other passengers too!
She is maybe a little more used to this than me and immediately started worrying about finding her stop.
I helped her, made sure she knew where to get off. Made two friends on the bus today. One was packing heat.
I continued to learn about the power of just being kind to people. Because I didn’t panic, remained calm, and just was nice to this guy, nobody died on the bus tonight.
There wasn’t an incident, no police, no TV news story. No policy changes and think tank discussions. No handwringing about crime in Tucson and the buses aren’t safe.
Just the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of human kindness. Why is that sweet soul in all that massively illegal crap? I don’t know.
But if I run into him again, he will probably offer me more candy as opposed to shooting me. I was good to him; why would he want to kill me?
I hope this is a powerful lesson about the importance of loving your neighbor. ❤
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
“A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
“So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
“He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
“The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” ~ Luke 10:25-37, NIV.
Jephthah's Daughter 