God’s Heavenly Bound Eternity Bus

Before we get into this month’s story, I want to wish you a Happy Easter! Tomorrow is the big day! If your church is like mine, it’s the day we get up bright and early and head to the Sunrise Service. It’s a big deal to me because it emulates the day sweet Mary ran to the tomb to see her son, and He was not there! It’s the day He rose!

Rarely do I ever travel. I went to Raleigh, NC, with some of the best folks I know this past week. My work family is the most incredible group of people whom I love very much. It was an overnight trip with seven ladies, including myself. That meant two ladies in each room, and the odd one out would have an adjoining room. The trip started a little rocky; I got car sick. I was riding in a tank, so I thought it would be okay to sit in the back. Plus, I didn’t want to be THAT person, you know, the one who always has to ride shotgun. Insert eye roll. LOL! 

By the time we were mid-way down the first mountain, nausea was knocking hard. Before getting to the interstate, I had already asked for two pit stops where I purchased Pepsi and Sprite. Neither of which I could swallow. The next three hours were a struggle. Previously, we had all agreed to meet for dinner at a renowned seafood restaurant. A renowned seafood restaurant that served me half raw fish. The only edible part was the baked potato. However, that was the best twenty-four-dollar baked potato I have ever eaten. 

At the hotel, I learned our rooms were close to each other. I was thankful for that, at least since the hotel had no more rooms to rent. The clerk informed us that our rooms were on the top floor, the seventh floor, to be precise. Even though I’m not a novice traveler, I am at least experienced enough to know that it’s better to be on the lowest floor in case of a fire. The moment she informed me it was the top floor, I began to visualize how many bed sheets I would need to tie together to shimmy down the side of their building in case of a fire. Trying to cause no more chaos than I already had with car sickness and raw fish, I took the keycard and headed to the room with my roomie.

I don’t know if you have ever been at a hotel when the fire alarm goes off or not, but I can now say I have. I cannot express the level of fear, stress, and confusion the sound and flashing lights created in me. I mean, it hurt from my head to my toes. And, bless a billygoat, this alarm didn’t go off once, but it did twice during the night! Two separate times, my roomie and I had to jump from the bed, frantically search for all our attire, and heave up and down seven flights of stairs, all for a busted water pipe. (At a recent doctor’s visit, she asked if I exercise routinely. I told her yes, especially when I travel!)

I was so surprised the first time my roomie and I were in the stairwell because we were the only people! At check-in, the clerk told us there were no available rooms. So where are these people now? It couldn’t be because they didn’t hear the alarm. After all, I’m pretty sure they heard it across the waters to England. The second time, the alarm resounded for nearly fifteen minutes because the water had short-circuited the alarm, and the fire department couldn’t turn it off. As we huffed down the seven flights of stairs for the second time, I noticed more folks were in the stairwell. I concluded that either they had given up listening to the blaring alarm or that it had just taken two warnings to get their attention.

How many warnings does it take to get folks to run up and down seven flights of stairs in the depth of night? For me, it took only one. The poor young lady who drew the short straw and got stuck with me for a roomie probably wished she could draw straws again. After the first alarm, she said, “Let’s call the front desk. It might just be something simple.” Nope, not good enough for me. Remember, I’m already strategizing with the sheets, trying to figure out how to secure them together so we can shimmy down the building like Spider-Man. In my opinion, there was no time to call the front desk. We had to act fast if we wanted to live! Notice my fear already existed, but the alarm put my tail in gear. 

The Bible is full of warnings about what will happen to people who do not believe in God. Believers have to share the story of God more than once. So many distractions and warnings are happening in the world, and just because we “think” our family and friends have heard about Jesus isn’t enough. Their souls are worth more than us just “thinking” they have heard about Jesus. 

I used a silly but true story about heeding a fire warning. I’m not in any way saying my friends who didn’t run up and down the seven flights of stairs in the middle of the night are unbelievers—that’s far from it. And I’m definitely not holier than others regarding why I evacuated and others didn’t. Trust me when I say my boots are muddier than anyone else’s. I’m grateful only God knows what my real “mud” is, and I really wish He didn’t. 

This story is about warnings and how we respond to them. I neglect many warnings on a first and even sometimes second acknowledgment. Yellow lights, for instance, are warnings to which we all fall prey. God offers free salvation and a warning of what awaits if the offer goes unaccepted. It’s an offer no one should neglect or put off. In the same way, I want to tie sheets together to escape a burning building; there will be no ladders to latch together to escape Hell. 

God gives us infinite opportunities to heed His warnings. When are enough warnings enough? What is the “final straw” to accepting God’s gift along with His grace and His mercy? Would the hotel have had a greater response in the first evacuation if they had gone door to door and insisted folks accept the warning that something was wrong? How do we get others to listen? What can we all do to get more friends and family into God’s Heavenly Bound Eternity Bus? 

We can keep telling Jesus’s story, being His voice, and letting Him use us the way He wants. We can keep praying for others. And, most importantly, we can keep trying. We can be like the hotel and keep sounding the alarm until the people listen.