{"id":2323,"date":"2012-02-29T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T09:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=2323"},"modified":"2016-01-06T14:01:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T14:01:05","slug":"dont-pick-fights-with-buses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/dont-pick-fights-with-buses\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Pick Fights With Buses"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a busy road and it was the busiest time of the day; morning rush hour. But it was my regular route to work and, despite cars being parked on both sides of the road, I was used to it, and vehicles of all shapes and sizes\u00a0travelling in both directions were just about able to pass each other safely.<\/span><\/p>\n

Occasionally however, a big bus came along.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I was safely tucked in between two parked cars, the impatient idiot inside me stupidly asked:\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Do I sit here and wait for the X-62 to pass or do I take my chances and go for it?\u2019 After deciding on the latter, and quickly realising it was the wrong choice and that I\u2019d horribly misjudged the size of the gap, there was really only one thing left to do: to get out of the way of the bus, even if it meant smashing the wing mirror off an inconveniently parked Vauxhall Vectra.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

The noise was worse than if a fridge had been pushed off a cliff and landed on concrete \u2013 but with added pop \u2013 and the mirror, or bits of mirror, landed a long way from the car it was no longer attached to. It flew through the ice cold Northumberland air \u2013 in truth, I was fortunate it hadn\u2019t flown into a sleepy school-goer or crazy masochistic morning jogger.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, I pulled over and left a note for the owner of the Vectra, dusted myself off, felt incredibly angry with myself for making such an awful decision, kept telling myself \u2018if only I\u2019d waited six more seconds \u2026\u2019 and carried on to work feeling incredibly grumpy.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a few teachers that I work with noticed that I wasn\u2019t my \u2018chirpy self\u2019 and when I told them why, I was astounded as to how shocked they were that I didn\u2019t simply drive on, inviting the opportunity to ask them \u2018well, what would Jesus do, eh?\u2019 and opening up a few interesting conversations leaving more than a few work colleagues with little doubt as to what I believed in and how I try to live by it day in, day out.<\/span><\/p>\n

I received a call from the Vectra-minus-a-mirror man later that day, and the damage was far worse than I had anticipated money wise.<\/span><\/p>\n

It made me think though \u2013 well, if it cost over \u00a3200 to fix some bloke\u2019s car, who cares? I got to name check Jesus to a bunch of work colleagues today. Although that had been a huge positive to coincide with a most unfortunate and pricey incident, I had to quickly remind myself \u2013 no, wait a minute here \u2013 this didn\u2019t need to happen in order for me to open up about my faith – we can share the gospel for free.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018\u2026you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere \u2013 in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.\u2019 Acts 1:8<\/span><\/p>\n

As it doesn\u2019t cost a penny, and it\u2019s the best news you could ever give to anybody, I should really start sharing it more often.<\/span><\/p>\n

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