Reflections on a bus trip

I took a bus from Harare to Bulawayo on Monday. It was a double decker no less! I sat on the top deck at the front which gave me a great view of the road. But it also gave me an interesting view into the life of the thirty-something black lady seated next to me.

The lady was seriously into the bling thing. She had a bright red plastic handbag with yellow trim, golden jacket, blonde wig and knee-high boots with fluffy edges. Get the picture? She talked non-stop from Harare to Gweru whether I was listening or not. And most of the time, I was listening because it is not often that one gets to see the world from such a different perspective.

What made the perspective interesting was the fact that she was a single mum working for an all-female computer company (“my boss says that men are nothing but trouble”), who claimed to be a Christian. In fact, church attendance seemed to be a big deal for her because she phoned on an iPhone – proudly shown off and given to her “a few years ago by a Chinese man” - to make sure that her nine year-old daughter had been correctly turned out for church. I can’t be 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure she was talking to a boyfriend. I shuddered to think that her little girl had been left in the care of a boyfriend whilst she went on a two week trip to Dubai. Later, she made another call – a blackberry this time - and spoke to her daughter, asking whether she had enjoyed church and promising her a laptop from Dubai if she was a good girl. A laptop for a nine year old....

On one of the occasions when I managed to get a word in edge-wise, I asked the standard Evangelism Explosion questions: 1) If you died today, would you be sure to get into heaven, and 2) If God asked you why He should let you into heaven, what would your answer be? No, she wasn’t sure about making it to heaven, but she had led Praise and Worship in her church. Furthermore, God had given her many prophetic dreams. Some of them had even come true. As a matter of fact, she had seen heaven during a near death experience whilst her daughter was being born, yet nine years later, she had no assurance that she would get there. How sad.

It made me wonder what they preach at her church. It made me wonder how many of the sermons were simply self-help, feel-good recipes for worldly “success”. Why else would fancy phones and trips to Dubai take priority over her little girl? It made me wonder how many people that attend our own church lack an assurance of salvation or have based it on things like church attendance or some other trapping of Christianity.

Going to church is a poor substitute for the joy of knowing God! So, for that matter, is a fancy cell phone or even a holiday in Dubai. I pray that my fellow passenger will find that out soon.

Cheers for now - Ian