On a Greyhound bus: sharing the gospel and experiencing God’s grace at inconvenient times

Written by Wen-Lian Chang (張文亮), translated and posted with the author’s permission.

Wen-Lian Chang was a professor in the department of bioenvironmental systems engineering at National Taiwan University. He received his Ph.D. at UC Davis in the 1980s.

Original post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wenlian.chang/posts/pfbid02Sw7Vj4Ho5zyp3AkVcG5NE8HrqAkcFnQ1a3hGyikP39gx6BV2yxFPCjxRMkZU6zj9l

When I met my wife, I didn’t know how to drive.

There was only one bus from where I lived to our dating place. The bus would set out at 5:30 p.m. Usually, there weren’t many passengers, mostly older people and students. The seats were not designated, and there wasn’t a need to book one either.

I always took the bus on Friday to meet with my girlfriend. One time, the professor dismissed the class later, and after school, I rushed to the Greyhound bus station. The bus was ready to depart, yet many people were still at the station. There were more passengers that day.

The bus driver came out to calm the people, saying that there would be another bus coming one hour later. Then he said, “There is still one seat on the bus. Anyone wants to take it?” He repeated that several times, yet no one was willing to go on the bus. I had set a time to meet with my girlfriend. How could I wait for an extra hour?

Walking to the front, I told the driver I could take that seat. The driver gave me a pitiful look and let me go on the bus. The door was closed. I went on the bus and saw a huge guy sitting beside the seat that was left.

I walked nearer to see more clearly, that guy was wearing a white shirt with furry arms. The fur was long and curly, and there were tattoos on his arms. Sitting there, he almost occupied two seats.

I squeezed myself in that narrow space, with my arm tightly attached to his. The driver turned, seemed relieved as he saw me sitting down, and started the bus.

I could barely move all the way. “It’s only going to be a three-hour drive,” I thought, “and that is only a light and momentary trouble.” After the bus was on the highway, it became less bumpy. I took out my pocket Bible from my shirt and started to read.

As I was reading, I felt some hot air sweeping over my face, yet I didn’t take it to heart. Not long after, a big head cut into my view-he was also looking at my Bible.

“What’s this?” he asked.
“Chinese,” I said.
“What book is this?” he asked again.
“The Bible,” I answered.
“Why is it so small?” he asked.
“It’s only the New Testament.”

He was a big guy with a loud voice, and he asked again, “Why is there somebody reading the Bible in this age? And an Asian?”

All the passengers in front of me pulled their seats backward to that question as if wanting to hear my answer. Conversations between passengers behind me stopped in a moment, too.

I was new in America, and my English wasn’t that good. How should I explain it to him? Seeing that I wasn’t responding, he asked again with a loud voice, “What passage are you reading now?”
“The gospel of John,” I replied.
“What is it about?”
He was so impatient! Even the passage he wanted me to explain was appointed. What should I do now? At that time, an elder couple in the front rows turned and smiled at me. Suddenly, I had the courage.

With limited phrases and sentences that I knew in English, I explained the passage to him. He listened and asked some questions, and to my surprise, he was an excellent listener with an open heart. Besides the tempo of the engine, the only sound in the whole bus was the sound of our conversations. One hour and more later, the bus stopped at S town.

With a smile, he said to me gently, “I’m a beer seller, and I’m getting off here. Thanks for your sharing.” He got off the bus, took a sizeable brown beer cup from the luggage compartment, gave it to me, and said, “This is for you.” Then he gave me a hard handshake and left.

I brought the beer cup to the date with my future wife. May God make his cup overflow all the days of his life. Soon after that, I got married, with my cup overflowed, too.

This experience helped me a great deal. The Lord Jesus let me learn three things: first, even when my language ability isn’t enough, with the Lord, I am still able to share the gospel. Second, becoming a pilgrim means that people are waiting there for us to share the gospel with them. Third, “let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:4) There are people there who need to hear the gospel. Even though I thought it wasn’t the time to do it, it was the time in the sight of the Lord.