“I’m Thankful for our Vehicles.”
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28
“Mom, but I just don’t understand. If the wedding is at 15 hours (3:00 PM) today, why are we leaving at 9 hours (9:00 AM)? The wedding is still within Lusaka.”
“Yes, love. I know that this is hard for you to understand. Usually, we walk to where we need to go. But today is different. We cannot walk to Auntie’s wedding. It is all the way in Lusaka West. We must take a few buses to get there. Starting off at 9 hours will help us to arrive in time.”
“A bus? I don’t think I have ever been on a real bus!”
“It is going to be a treat for you, Chisomo. Now, draw water so you can wash your face and hands and then put on your wedding clothes. The time is getting near.”
Chisomo did as she was told. Today was going to be filled with adventure, and she wasn’t going to miss even a second of it. She scrubbed her face and hands with the cool water as her mother had taught her. Then she carefully put on her wedding clothes, making sure the beautiful dress didn’t touch the family’s dirt floor.
When it was finally time for them to walk down their dusty lane toward the pick point, Chisomo could hardly contain her excitement. Her mother tightly held her hand as they approached a green striped mini bus. Mother handed the conductor 50 kwacha, and mother and daughter squeezed their way passed the first two rows to get to the last row which had 2 empty spaces, the only ones on the mini bus.
“We have to sit back here?” thought Chisomo. “But at least I can see out the window.” Chisomo wiggled around in her seat to find a comfortable position while mother seemed to have her own struggle in her lumpy seat. Chisomo liked having the wind in her face as the mini bus sped down the street. Cars were racing passed them in the opposite direction, while they seemed to sped around everyone in these lanes. She saw tall buildings, smelled food cooking on the side of the road, and heard horns hooting. It was all very exciting for a little girl who hardly left her small community. Abruptly, the bus came to a screeching halt, and Chisomo lurched forward in her seat, nearly knocking heads with the man seated in front of her.
“Mother, what was that?”
“Oh, we are just picking up more passengers.”
“More? Where will they fit? The first row already has four people, the second row has five, and this back row already has four.”
Yes, five more passengers squeezed into the already full mini bus. The conductor added several packages to the boot and tied it down with a bungee cord. With the sliding door barely able to close due to the number of people crammed inside, Chisomo began to feel like she was having a hard time breathing.
“Take a deep breath,” her mother comforted.
“I can’t… I’m just too squished!”
“Then sit on my lap, love. This will give us a bit more room.”
Once the mini bus got moving again, Chisomo could feel the cool breeze hit her face once again, and she began breathing more normally. She studied the people out the window. Some were dressed in fancy church clothes, while others had dirty and torn rags. She admired the brightly colored uniforms from pupils walking to school.
It was then that she heard a loud thumping noise.
“What’s that, mother?”
“It sounds to me like a flat tire, love.”
The mini bus drifted slightly off the road and into the dirt under a shade tree. Once they stopped, all the passengers filed out with their belongings. Lots of moans, groans, and complaints started with the people, but the conductor and driver were too busy replacing the tire to even pay attention to the angry crowd. They work busily, in step with each other. It seemed to Chisomo that they were very good at their job. “They must have done this before,” she thought.
After the twenty-minute wait, the remaining passengers who had not already left to find other transport, filed back into the bus to continue their ride. Then they got back on the road. The bus rolled along down the road, making stops every kilometer or so, letting passengers on and off as it stopped. Chisomo was beginning to see why this really might take all day to get to the wedding. As her eyes were getting heavy, her mother poked her gently.
“This is our stop.”
“Yippee! We are finally at the wedding!”
“Oh, no, my love. This isn’t the wedding venue. This is just our stop. We need to get on the next bus over there.” Mother said as she pointed down the road at the group of buses gathered on the side of the road.
Chisomo rolled her eyes and reluctantly grabbed her bag to walk to yet another bus. “Will THIS ONE be the last one, mother?”
“Yes, love. About 45 more minutes on this next bus, and we will finally be at Auntie’s wedding… unless we get another flat tire!”
Chisomo looked at her mother. She couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not, but to Chisomo, all of this travel was not a joking matter. If mother said forty-five more minutes, then the countdown was on. She hoped that the time in that hot, smelly, uncomfortable mini bus wouldn’t last a minute more than that!
This part of the road wasn’t much fun for an already tired little girl. The driver could hardly keep the bus on the road as he dodged pothole after pothole on the rough road. The bus swayed back and forth, making several of the riders feel a little queasy. But just as her mother had said after 45 minutes, they climbed out of the minibus. Grateful to finally be out of the stuffy bus and walking again, Chisomo said, “This is how I’m really meant to travel! No more buses for me! I’d rather walk!”
“Good,” her mother replied. “We have about 30 more minutes to walk to the church. And let’s hurry. The wedding starts soon!”
THANKSGIVING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What does this story make you thankful for?
How would your family’s life be different if you didn’t have a vehicle or maybe only had one vehicle instead of two? In a typical day, how many places do you go in your vehicle or vehicles? How many miles is that?
We can sometimes pride ourselves in the type of vehicle we have. “Ours is better than theirs.” After listening to this story, what do you think of that mindset?
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It is God’s will for us to be a thankful people. Is your heart becoming more thankful? If so, how? If not, talk to God about that.
THANKSGIVING ACTION ITEMS:
~ Can you use your vehicle to bless others? Ask your church if there is an elderly person who needs help getting to church on Sunday or plan to deliver groceries to a family who has a new baby or a recent surgery. Parents, maybe the Lord is asking you downsize your vehicle to something more affordable for your family or live with only one vehicle for a while.
~Donate money to help a pastor in a third world country purchase a bicycle so he can minister to his congregation and tell others about Jesus more easily. Find out more about this program here at Samaritan’s Purse. You can also email me (lightnersinafrica@gmail.com) to learn more about supporting our medical mission’s ministry in Zambia. We need a new vehicle to get our medical team to treat our children around the city more easily.
~ Download these papers for your children to write and draw what they are thankful for today. (Make one each day of this devotion series.)
THANKSGIVING SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
(Psalm 100 is a classic portion of Scripture for our families to memorize during this Thanksgiving season. Pick either a verse or two or the whole chapter to work before Thanksgiving. It will be a sweet memory from this holiday with your family. You may even want to challenge your family to memorize these verses and then say them together at your Thanksgiving celebration. Click on the image below to get your free Psalm 100 Printable. If you need ideas on how to memorize Scripture with your family, click here to see some of my favorites.)
(If you have already memorized Psalm 100, try Psalm 95 instead.)
THANKSGIVING PRAYER TIME:
Thank God for the vehicle you have and the ability to travel so easily to get where you need and want to go. Please help us find ways that we can bless others with our vehicle.
Would like to know more about supporting our family or the ministry in Zambia? Click here to find out about Family Legacy Missions International.
Leave a Reply