One Day on a Bus Bench

A Fictional Story by Amy Hubert

She sat alone on that park bench seemingly waiting for the bus.
But one bus came.
And another.
And still another, and yet she still sat.
From the window where I stood sipping my cup of coffee (the second pot of the day), I wondered what she was waiting for.
I set my coffee down, and began my next task on my to-do list. Grabbing the broom, I first swept the floor, then mopped.
I walked past the window again, and curiosity made me take a glance.
Why I was surprised that she hadn’t moved I’m not sure.
I heard Joey, my sixteen-month-old son, waking up from his morning nap.
After changing him, cuddling him, feeding him, I slung him onto my hip, grabbed my keys, my purse, my grocery list and made my way to my silver 2007 Toyota RAV4.
After buckling him in the SUV, I was about to climb inside, but first, I looked over my shoulder.
She looked to be about my age, twenty-nine, or maybe a few years older, but only if you looked really close. At first glance I had thought she was, maybe, forty-something.
Her clothes looked thin from many, many washes; she wore no makeup, but had on a red baseball cap. From what team, I wouldn’t know.
Her tennis shoes looked like they might have once been white. I wondered if the bags that sat near her were all she owned.
She looked off in the distance oblivious to me, staring at nothing in particular.
I got behind the steering wheel and put on my brand new Alfred Sung sunglasses and smoothed the wrinkles out of my blouse.
On the radio, song after song played, I could hear Joey in the backseat talking gibberish, but I could only think of the woman on the bench.
In the produce section I thought of her.
In the bakery, I thought of her.
In the soup isle, the pasta isle, the meat section, and the frozen food section I thought of her.
I was so distracted by her I accidently hit a gentleman in the ankles with my cart. I couldn’t even look at him as I apologized, and could only thank the Lord that he had work boots on, and not sandals like I was wearing.
I got to the check out, and didn’t even hear the cashier ask me if I wanted bags. I was still thinking of her, as I went and picked up some boxes to put my groceries in. After all, I had no bags.
I put all my groceries in the SUV, buckled Joey in his seat, got behind the wheel, and reached for my purse for my sunglasses. But my purse wasn’t there. I sighed, unbuckled myself, then Joey, locked up the SUV and headed back inside.
I reached the cashier and thanked her for holding my purse.
When I was finally on the road – with my purse this time and wearing my sunglasses – I began to pray, wondering what had taken me so long to do so in the first place.
I prayed for the woman I had seen all the way home. And when I reached my driveway, to my surprise, there she sat, in the same spot.
I brought Joey inside, placed him in his highchair with juice and some crackers and began unloading my groceries.
I heard the Lord say, “invite her to lunch”.
I froze.
Lunch?
What if she’s crazy?
What if she doesn’t leave?
What if she steals something?
Then I heard the Lord say, “If I ask you to have her for lunch, don’t you know that I will be there? Don’t you know that I love her as much as I love you?”
Then I thought to myself, well, maybe she’ll say no.
So I picked Joey up, a very wet Joey as he had more apple juice on his shirt than had probably made it to his belly, and walked across the street.
I sat on the bench, and tried talking to her.
“Hi, my name is Maddy, this is my son Joey. I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been sitting here all day.”
At that moment, still as she stared off in the distance, I saw tears form in her eyes.
I tried to smile, although my heart was breaking.
“Well, Joey and I were wondering if you would like to join us for lunch. My husband is at work all day, and the house is kind of lonely.”
She didn’t say anything, but I saw her chin quiver.
“Do you have any plans for lunch?” I asked.
I saw a small shake of her head; if I had blinked I might have missed it.
“Well, come on inside, then, I hope you like chicken wraps, because that’s what we’re having! You aren’t a vegetarian, are you?” I asked, as I helped her with one of her bags.
“No, I’m not,” she said quietly, and I saw the beginnings of a smile there.
We had lunch that day, and by the end of the meal we were laughing and joking with one another. Even while Joey had his afternoon nap, and she (Lia) helped me with the dishes.
She looked to be about my size, so I went to my room and found some things I thought she might like. I handed them to her.
“I wondered if you might let me use your bath?” she said very hesitantly, looking like a child, and not a grown woman.
I smiled, and led her that way.
I did some laundry while she got fixed up, and when she emerged she looked like a different person.
That’s when I realized I knew her.
We had been good friends as kids when she had moved to the other side of town in grade three, but I knew her as “Amelia”. We didn’t see much of each other much after that.
It’s been three years since that day we had lunch together. Lia and I became really good friends. Best friends, in fact.
I found out in that time that she had been evicted from her apartment after losing her job; that she had turned to drugs, but was trying to get clean when I found her that day on the bench.
All day she had sat and prayed for God to rescue her, not even sure that He existed.
She didn’t tell me all that until months after that first day. After she had lived with my husband and I for three months, once we had found her a job and an apartment.
“I don’t know what would have happened if God hadn’t sent you,” she told me one day.
And I couldn’t help but wonder, what would have happened if I hadn’t listened?
But instead of dwelling on that possibility, Lia and I started volunteering at a shelter for women. We’ve been doing it for two years, and Lia is now the director of the second home they are starting in another part of town.
This is what I was thinking of as I watched her walk down the aisle and marry one of my husband’s best friends. With tears brimming, I stood my post as her maid of honor.
I caught her eye for a second, and winked.
A beautiful bride.
Completely restored.

How Beautiful Are The Feet...

Well readers, I have not been very regular as of late with my blogging. I'm home for a few weeks and have many stories to share, so I will do my best to bump it up.
We had a great time in Trinidad ministering to the children and young people there. I also had a great time catching up with old friends, and making lots of new ones.
Unfortunately my stint of returning from trips with foot ailments continues with a new spider bite on my big toe. The Bible says "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Gospel"... however, my feet are in great need of a pedicure although there's not much I can do for the spider bite until it just clears up!
Praise God, 14ish people gave or recommitted their lives to Christ this trip, and one at least was filled with the Holy Spirit! We had many other awesome things happen, and the Vacation Bible School was a success! When we asked kids their favorite part of the week most of them would say either the Bible stories or praising Jesus. Isn't that awesome?! The last day one little boy came up to us and asked us if we had all the memory verses written down from the week, because he wanted to remember them. I had tears come to my eyes, as did Sandra, as we realized the impact the week had on this young boy. It made me wonder how many future preachers, doctors, teachers, business people, missionaries, etc. we had in the room that week. I thank God that He allowed us that small glimpse of the fruit that came from VBS in that one little boy.
I have other stories similar to that one, of kids praying and thanking God for VBS, for their teachers, etc. Jesus challenges us to have faith like a child, and He always loved having children come around Him and He would teach them. I count it a huge blessing to be a small part of getting them ready for the destiny that He has for them.
Anyway, I'm back, and have a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks! Please keep my sister's friend Stephanie in prayer as she has been in the hospital all week. The doctors are running tests, and I am believing for total healing for her.

Ministering in Trinidad

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, I can hardly believe it! Well, we arrived in Trinidad (the team and I) on Saturday night at about midnight. Our flight was delayed, so we didn't get to bed until almost 2... then up at 7 am. A lot of us had lost sleep the night before as well, but I think now we're finally feeling like ourselves!
I usually like to focus in on just one or two stories when I blog, but I feel like I have so many to tell.
We began the Vacation Bible School for kids on Monday, had 40 out (double what we expected for our first day), and had 45 today. The kids are so awesome, it only takes about 3 minutes for them to get into your heart. They are awesome.
Today we went around evangelizing and ministering to people. Natalie, Pam and I met this one lady in her 60's, told us she needed knee replacements and her back was really bothering her. After talking to her for a few minutes, we found out she had just moved there and still needed to unpacked, but she was in so much pain she couldn't do it on her own. Pam and I will go back later in the week to help her with cleaning and unpacking.
But what got me the most - more than her need for help, and more than her fear that people would steal from her if they came to help - was how lonely she was. I didn't care that we had spent more than a half hour with her, I didn't care that she talked our ears off. At one point she began to cry, and my heart just went out to her. We prayed with her, and I am believing that when we go to help her in the next few days we will hear a good report, but we'll also get a chance to visit with her and encourage her.
Which brings me to something God's really been speaking to me about lately - encouraging others. It astounds me how I can be discouraged about something myself, but the moment that I step out and try encourage others, the discouragement begins to lift. Recently I remember thinking "God how can I encourage this person, when I myself need encouragement?" And that's when I chose to lean on God, get my encouragement from Him, give myself a little pep-talk and I chose to stir myself up and get encouraged. Then, I was able to encourage others. Interesting, isn't it, how being encouraged sometimes is a choice?
I'm having a great time with this team - I love it when we get laughing and joking around - I mean, when we prayed for the joy of the Lord, He heard us. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It's an amazing thing.
It's also an amazing thing that I sit here, in Trinidad, and I need my sweater! lol. Obviously, we have the air conditioning on, so the moment I step outside in my sweater, it's brutally hot.
Note to self - sweaters should be left inside the house at all times while in Trini.

PS - we're having fun trying out the Trinidad accent as well. Maybe I'll see about making a short clip of us all, I'm sure it would get some laughs!

I Have Faith For This

I'm reading a book called "Fear Fighters" by Jentezen Franklin right now, which is really a book about putting your Faith into action.
He has so many great points, and I'm only in the first chapter. One thing he points out is what Jesus said to Simon Peter in Luke 22:31-32, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail."
The most profound thing to me in that scripture is that Jesus did not pray the conflict away, didn't pray the trial away - He prayed for Simon Peter's faith to endure and sustain him THROUGH the conflict and trial. James 1:3 says "knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." So why don't we pray for our own faith to sustain us? We need to change how we pray.
We need to come against attacks of the enemy, absolutely, but we need to pray and stir up our faith more so.
Jentezen gives this list of "fear fighters" but I am going to call them "faith igniters"...
1. Jesus is with me, and He has all power!
2. God is at the bottom (when you're at your end, He's there too)
3. I have faith for this!
Romans tells us that we have all been given a measure of faith - and all we need is a mustard seed of faith to move mountains, so what are we waiting for?
Is our faith lying dormant? Are we overcome with the cares of this world or do we have Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego kind of faith that will stare fear in the face and stand strong with faith in our God who is ABLE?!
Dandiel 3:16-18... Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Whenever I need a reminder of limitless and relentless faith I think of these 3 men. They had ultimate faith. Faith that says, "My God is ABLE, and He will save me! But even if He chooses not to, I WILL still believe, I will NOT bow down!" That is aggressive faith, the kind of faith that pleases God, the kind the enemy can't stand.
I remember Tracey Stewart saying a few years ago that faith doesn't mean that you're not scared. Faith is believing and standing regardless of what you're feeling.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. So stir up your faith, stare your problem in the face and declare, "I have faith for this!" God has given you every tool you need to face every situation you might face.
Faith. Boring? Hardly.

Back from Guatemala, Gearing up for Trinidad

This week has been just CRAZY getting caught up on paperwork from being away for a month, and getting ready for our missions trip to Trinidad.
Yesterday we had a dance practice for the trip. Insert cringe here. It's been a full year since the last time we did a choreographed dance for a trip, and saying I'm a bit rusty is putting it nicely and saying I'm a bit sore today is sad but true.
Sandra and I had quite the laugh at how our bones were cracking every time we had to bend our knees. We sounded like a Kellogg's Rice Crispy commercial.
Despite all that, we managed to learn a full minute of the dance... only four more to go. Monday we'll hit it again, and with only 16 days until we leave, we've got our work cut out for us! ;)
Nevertheless, the dance is looking good! Note to self - drink more milk this week.
We are excited for what God has in store for Trinidad, for the VBS and the youth conference. We're all being stretched - not that being stretched is anything new lol - and having a great time together preparing. We're thinking we'll test the dance out on other travelers waiting in the Miami Airport - my only stipulation is that the music must be quite enough to keep us out of trouble and loud enough to cover the snap crackle pop of our knees.
Well that concludes today's post.
Happy Canada Day!