We were not meant to do this life alone

​In the bible you are left to wonder about a lot. The bible says a lot, but there is often a lot that is left unsaid as well.

In the book of Matthew, there is a fast-paced series of events captured with just a couple of hundred words. Jesus is baptized, and shortly after - at least in terms of Matthew's narrative - Jesus is in the middle of the wilderness being tempted by the devil. At the end of that period of temptation, the bible says in chapter 4:

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

That's it. That is all it says. The angels came and attended him.

Like, what did they do or say to him? I have no idea, but shortly after the visit from the angels, we read this:

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

After reading that, I'm left wondering if the angels didn't tell Jesus, "you might think about doing this preaching thing with a bus and not a unicycle."

I mean, can't you picture the modern day version of this story?

I can picture Jesus pulling up next to the lake in this giant yellow school bus and yelling, "hey, come on, get in - let's go love on some people." Then with that loud roar of a bus accelerating away, followed shortly by that screeching sound of brakes, he'd stop and call for James and John to join Peter and Andrew on the bus. They race up the steps of the bus - give Jesus a wild high five - then the bus would pull away. James and John are hanging out the window waving at their dad Zebedee, who is waving back, proudly, as his sons head off to bigger things.

It's a great question to ask today. Am I going through this world on a unicycle, or am I driving a bus? Is my day centered on how to somehow get myself through this day, or is it about making stops along the way and collecting people to love, and to help me go love on others.

I'm wondering this morning if when we die, and when we then travel to go meet God, if maybe he won't be somewhere in the distance, excited and anticipating our arrival, looking through some heavenly strong binoculars, and maybe he is looking and wondering - is Keith showing up here riding a unicycle, or will he be driving a bus full of people waving out the windows?

Jesus said to Peter and Andrew, "follow me and I will send you out to fish for people." Those two dudes dropped everything - like EVERYTHING in life - and got on that bus. We don't get to know what all Jesus said to them that made them ultimately get on that bus. We just know Jesus showed up and off they went.

Maybe to a degree that is the point. We don't need to know what all was said. Maybe we just need to know that if we claim to - like Peter and Andrew did - to have jumped on that bus with Jesus, and knowing that when Jesus left we all sort of inherited that bus, we need to ask ourselves if somewhere along the way we might have traded that bus in for a unicycle.

Today I'm just hearing Jesus say, "I left you a bus - who's getting on it?"

Today I'm left wondering, take the bus to work, or the unicycle?