A few weeks ago, I drove the college age group from Willow Avenue to their Fall Retreat at Fall Creek Falls State Park. If you know me, you know that the three church busses are like my babies. Myself and the deacon over the ministry split time making sure that each of them have gas, are clean, and are in proper working order. We also devote a lot of our time training and recruiting new drivers. Up to the Friday night around 7 o'clock of the retreat, I had never once had an issue with any of the busses. But before we get there, let's rewind to the earlier that day.
Friday October 25th, 2019 was a rainy cold day. After I got off at 1 o'clock at the Cookeville History Museum I headed over to the church bus garage to check on the busses. Only one needed gas and I took it to the gas station down the road and filled up the tank. The bus in the middle bay, I took out and drove it into the lower parking lot so that it would be ready to go at 4:30 that afternoon. Keep in mind that all of this was being done in the pouring rain. The running joke around Willow Avenue is that it always rains when I drive the bus.
Fast forward to 4:30, I arrive at the church building and everyone is there minus one person. We load up the luggage and board the bus, and begin to wait. Finally, we are able to pull out at 5:30. By the time we got to Sparta, the rain showed no signs of letting up and darkness had set in. By the time we got to the top of Spencer Mountain, fog had rolled in. We got off at our exit and headed towards the park. Once we got into the park, that's where the trouble began. We got lost and the park signage was not the best. Between the driving rain beating on the windshield and the fog, I could barely see past the bus' hood. My sister and her good friend were sitting behind the driver's seat and were trying to get service to see where we were. They finally were able to call the college minister but he was cutting in and out due to the service. Finally after fifteen minutes of driving around the park we thought we had the right road. Problem is, we turned off the road too soon and pulled into what appeared to be a road, but ended up being a mud hole. As soon as I realized what we had done, I threw the bus in reverse and tried to get out of it. All the tires did was spin. We were officially stuck. After unloading the bus and making a few phone calls we were able to get a tow truck and the bus was pulled out. I recall saying to myself "Jesus, if there was ever a time for you to come back, now would be the perfect time." I was embarrassed, but after reflecting on this event, there are some spiritual applications that we can make out of this.
1. Don't be embarrassed about sharing your faith with others. In Romans 1:16, Paul tells the church at Rome, that he is "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." Do we ever find ourselves so embarrassed by our faith, that we don't share it with others? We have the perfect opportunity to tell others the good news, but we let it pass by. Why do we do this? Are we afraid we might lose a relationship with said person? Are we afraid that said person will laugh at us? Let me tell you all right now that if that's the case we either 1. Don't truly care about that person, because we are ok with letting them losing their soul. and 2. They are not truly our friends if they will laugh at us for believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul endured torture and imprisonment for preaching the gospel, but regardless of all this, he was not ashamed or embarrassed by what he was preaching. Can we say that?
2. God has a plan for you, even though you don't understand it right now. After we got the bus pulled out of its mud hole, the college minister and I, with the advice of a park ranger, went and found a place to park the bus for the night. When the college minister and I drove down to the cabin in his truck, we both commented that it was probably a blessing in disguise that the bus got stuck, because it would not have made it down there. The road curved at one point and wound between two large trees. On Sunday, one of our elder's wives told me that they got lost trying to find the cabin and she said that it was a good thing that I got stuck where I did, instead of closer to the cabin. Oftentimes in life when bad things happen to us I believe that we look back on them and see the good that comes as a result. In Jeremiah 29:11, the prophet Jeremiah tells us "For I know the thoughts (some translations say plans) that I think toward you, says the Lord." Friends we might not understand now, but when things don't go our way, there is always good that comes from it. Getting lost and getting the bus stuck most likely saved me from not seeing that curve in that narrow road and getting the bus lodged between two trees and actually doing damage to the bus.
We all do things that embarrass us. We all let opportunities to do good works pass by, which in turn embarrasses us. The real question is, how do we respond in these times? I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I thought about just quitting the bus ministry completely, I was that embarrassed. But you know what, I didn't and come Sunday morning, I drove my regularly scheduled route and then went and picked up the college group. They say when the horse throws you off, the best medicine is to get back on it, and that's what I did. Our deacon over the bus ministry and our elders were not upset with me. They said it could have happened to anybody and proceeded to tell me stories about other times things had happened with the bus. One elder said "We're thankful to have you willing to step up and drive the bus." One elder gave me the nickname "mud hole." Most people wouldn't recall this embarrassing time, but my hope is by doing so, I will help people see the good in times like these. I also hope that this article will help people not to be ashamed of the gospel. When trying to choose a title for this article, I thought about the trip up to that point, it really was "almost perfect." Friends we are human, we can't hide the fact that we will mess up daily, and when we do it's best to embrace the bad and learn from it. I know I have and I hope you will too!!
In Him,
Carver Moore
We would be honored for you to join us for worship at the Chestnut Mound church of Christ.
Our service times are as follows:
Sunday Morning Bible study: 10 am
Sunday morning worship: 11 am
Sunday evening worship: 5 pm
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