Bus adventure part 3

Sliding into a seat on the bus yesterday, Leah pointed to a hole in the floorboard beneath our feet and warned me not to fall through. The hole came in handy when I discovered an old dried up flower in my purse that needed to be discarded. I have a habit of picking bright flowers and carrying them with me for the day, but this one had had been with me for about 2 weeks. I simply let the shriveled flower fall from my hand, and it slipped through the hole beneath my feet, and onto the street. Those buses are so helpful.

A call to live big

I was listening to a sermon today from a friend's church in Seattle. The pastor ended his sermon with a quote by Sophie Scholl. She was a college student who produced and distributed anti-Nazi literature during WWII, for which she was killed. This exerpt from her diary is a profound challenge to me,

"The real damage in this world is done by those millions who want to just survive. Those honest men who just want to be left alone in peace, who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. They’ve got no side, they’ve taken no cause, those who won’t take measure of their own strength for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. These are the real problem. Those who don’t like to make waves or enemies, those for whom freedom and honor and truth and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s this reductionist approach to life. If you keep it small you will keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bad guys won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion because they die too. Those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe? Safe from what? Life is always on the edge of death. Narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues. A little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch. I choose my own way to burn, fidelity to Christ."

I don't want to live a small life. But there are many moments when I find myself pulling inward to try and stay safe. I am like the people Scholl describes who, "roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe." When I do this, my spirit becomes stifled and constricted and I don't know what is wrong. Thankfully I serve a Lord who came to set the captives free. Through Scholl's words, He has reminded me once again not to live a life suffocated by the pursuit of safety and dulled by an absence of risk.

Omnipresent

The Bible says to mourn with those who mourn. Today I have wept over difficult news encountered by a friend.

The Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice. Today I rejoiced with another friend who had great news.

It is incredible to encounter both extremes in one day. And yet God is intimately acquainted with both stories. He is present. He is involved. For Him, the tears of one do not cast a shadow on the celebration of the other. And the one rejoicing does not trivialize the one in pain. How beautiful it is that He can be with both of my friends at the same time...offering comfort or joy.

lessons learned in Spanish class

A few weeks ago in Spanish class my professor handed me a slip of paper with this scenario. "You are in a restaurant and when it is time to pay for your meal, you realize you forgot your wallet at home. Tell your waiter what you will do to solve the problem." In class, my prof was the waiter and I had to resolve the issue with him. What to do? In my broken Spanish I asked if I could go home to get money and return to pay my bill. No. Could I wash dishes to work off the bill? No. It was hard to come up with a solution. Finally I said I would call my dad and have him bring me money.

I had no idea I would eventually need that solution in real life. Tonight I went to dinner with a friend, and my credit card didn't go through. Always an uncomfortable situation, but I was prepared. I immediately called my teammate Jared, and he and another friend brought money down to the restaurant and then walked Leah and I home. Thanks Jared!

And that is why I am in a Spanish class.

An Unexpected Sermon Application

Tonight I was hanging out in my little office/studio/quiet room listening to a sermon that I downloaded from Imago Dei church entitled “Why did Jesus have to die?” As I listened, I was challenged by the many and beautiful meanings of Jesus’ death. Over time the pastor’s voice was being drowned out by the voice of my upstairs neighbor who was yelling and swearing at someone...in English. As the yelling continued for 30 minutes getting louder and more animated, I just wanted him to shut up so I could enjoy the sermon. How could he be so rude and self-centered to not realize his voice carries through the central air shaft and right into my apartment? Why doesn’t he just give me what I want…some quiet? Angrily turning up the volume on my computer, I was struck by my own self-righteousness. I understood in an instant why Jesus had to die.

Bus Adventures part 2

Last week was Holy Week and for the first few days we visited some friends in a town 3 hours south of San Jose. We returned home on Thursday morning, taking the last bus back to the city before transportation services ended for the Easter holiday.

I have a love/hate relationship with public transportation here. I love that it is cheap…$3.50 for a 3 hour trip. I love that I get to be with all sorts of different people…old people, children, etc. But I don’t like that I have to travel by someone else’s schedule. When the last bus leaves that means I have to leave, even though it is 6 hours before I wanted to. And I don’t like that it’s not always pleasant to be around people who are different from me.

It became clear right away that the person sitting in front of me on this journey was different. The person looked like a woman with long black hair, thick makeup, a yellow halter top, and platform heels. I realized quickly it wasn’t a woman… “she” was too tall and too muscular. It took the first hour of the trip for him to get settled in his seat. The settling in process included re-applying makeup every 5 minutes, and leaning over to fling his long hair into the aisle. It invariably landed on my knee. With my huge backpack under my feet my leg had no escape from the cascade of hair that fell on it.

I was free from the hairfall during the second half of the journey. He turned around in his seat so that he was facing backwards on the bus. The situation was incredibly awkward as I couldn’t look up without meeting his gaze. To make matters worse, he played music out loud and sang along for everyone’s entertainment. I wasn’t amused.

According to one of my Costa Rican friends, I am a magnet for unusual people and circumstances on buses. In all his years of riding the bus, he hasn’t had any experiences that compare to mine. Stay tuned for the next bus adventure…I’m sure it’s about to occur.

Bus Adventures part 1

I boarded the bus on a Friday morning at 6am and prepared for the trip to Monteverde, a forest and small town 5 hours away. My backpack was cumbersome and wouldn’t fit on my lap so I did what you are never supposed to do…put my pack in the overhead compartment across the aisle from me. Every time someone got on or off the bus I kept an eye on my pack…even waking out of sleep to do so.

About two hours into the trip I noticed the guy who was sitting across from me…right below my pack, looked back to someone and made specific hand signals. He had been on the bus since San Jose and for 2 hours he acted like he was traveling alone, so I thought it was odd that he suddenly communicated with someone…using code. I thought, “Something is going to go down the next time the bus stops.” As the bus slowed, the guy stood up and grabbed my bag. He quickly handed it back to another guy a few rows behind him who was headed for the back door while he walked to the front door. I jumped out of my seat and chased the guy with my bag. Just as he turned to get off the bus I grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and my bag with the other. Thankfully he just handed it over without a fight or I would have had to pull out my Tae Kwon Do moves.

Upon returning to my seat, I discovered that my bag fit nicely under my feet and I slept peacefully the rest of the trip.