God & Greyhound?

Let’s take a break from our series on teenagers for a week. I will pick back up next week with a bout two more articles to come on that subject. You can consider that a promise or a warning, whichever you choose. I would like to have a series on living a holy life so I want to wet your appetite for what is to come by giving you a taste of it now. Actually I am writing in code. I have painted myself into a corner this week and have no more time to write a new article so I am going to send you a snippet of something else I wrote this week and plan to expound on it later to make it look like I am doing this on purpose. Seriously though, I do like the idea of taking a break from a series to foreshadow what is to come, even if it has happened by accident!
Have you ever sat around thinking, “There has to be more to the Christian life than this; isn’t there?” I mean, we get saved then we go to church every Sunday for the rest of our lives, yeah right, okay most Sundays, but still, is that all there is? No, it can’t be! There has to be more. So what is it? Well, let’s meditate on Greyhound to help find an answer.
Once a person is saved, regenerated, justified, converted, been blood bought, or whatever terminology you chose to use, their ticket is punched and they are on the bus to Heaven. The funny thing though about buses is that they do not necessarily leave the station as soon as a passenger gets on. So this new passenger has some amount of time between the time they get on the bus and the time it arrives at its destination. During this time the passenger has to determine how they will pass the time. They can do several things. For one, they can get off of the bus if they have grown weary of life on the bus and are tired of waiting for it to leave or arrive. They do have the option and freedom to remove their self from the bus.
They could stay on the bus even though they are miserable because they have a dogged determination to not get off. This is great except if they do nothing to improve life on the bus then they are just going to drag everyone else down who may be having a hoot on the bus.
They could also waste the time. They could spend their time on the bus mindlessly keeping their self entertained, accomplishing nothing of importance or significance by the time it arrives at its final stop.
They could however spend the time at the station familiarizing their self with the bus, its purpose, its operation, even its destination so that during the journey they could be a resource for other passengers or the driver if need be. With this knowledge they could do a couple of things. For one they could use this knowledge to become an expert on the bus and its destination. As an expert they could take pride in what they know that others do not and consistently remind others of their superior knowledge of the bus and its journey. In their expertness they could become judgmental of those who can not see the benefit that they see in being on the bus and therefore refuse to get on. This only reinforces their decision to not get on. If any others do happen to get on with them, they may become impatient with them for not educating themselves better and for not knowing what they already know, maybe even so impatient that they refuse to help the other passengers because after all, “If they really wanted to know they could find out for themselves like I did!”
But, they could also take this knowledge and use it to help as many people as possible to get on the bus with them! They could also use their expertness to lovingly teach and encourage the other passengers to learn the bus and to turn around and use their knowledge to help fill the bus! So in short, as they wait on the bus following their own decision to get on they could do any of three things; get off of the bus and not go on to the final destination; they could just wait for it to leave and then ride solo to the destination (by which they may be surprised if they chose this option); or they can pack it to the brim with others and ride with lots of traveling companions!
There is so much more to the Christian life than just getting your ticket, having it punched, and getting onto the bus. It starts with this, but what follows is so much more glorious than a lonely bus ride; it has to be. Talk to me david.pastorrock1@gmail.com