The Best Sermon I Ever Heard

        The best sermon I ever heard was not given in a church.  The best sermon I ever heard was not spoken by a person who had been to seminary to train as a pastor.  The best sermon I ever heard was given by a bus driver!
        Five years ago I got to help start the off campus special education program for our school district in an old church building.  Through this venture I got to know a bus driver who quickly became my favorite.  I looked forward to those couple minutes at the end of the day when I got to chat with her.  
       A couple of years into the program the church where we were housed  had to sell their building.  We had worked so hard to make the church our home and I was less than thrilled with the plan that the school system rolled out for our next location.  I could see so many downsides to the new location.  I could only see what we were losing.  One day I lamented to my favorite bus driver.  She then went on to preach the best sermon I ever heard.
      She told me that she had one of the oldest busses in the fleet.  She had been promised a new bus and it didn't happen.  She was frustrated and unhappy every day when she got into that old bus.  One day she prayed about it, told God how miserable she was in this hunk of junk bus.  Her eyes lit up as she told me the next part of the story.  God told her to make it the best "hunk of junk" bus EVER!  She showed me her bucket of cleaning supplies and shared with me that everyday she cleaned the windows, wiped down the seats, swept the floors and made that bus smell good.  She greeted the students as she picked them up and made them feel as if they were embarking on a special journey in that bus.  Good things happened on that bus, great conversations and wonderful bonds were formed between driver, students, families and staff.  She then told me it was my turn to go and make it the BEST move to a new location.
      My staff and I downsized our "stuff", let the students pick colors for the new room, painted, hung twinkle lights and greeted our kids like they were embarking on a special new journey.  We concentrated on building bonds with our students and making some more great memories.  
     My bus driver taught me that sometimes when you can't change something you need to embrace it and make it the best.  My bus driver taught me that.  God works in amazing ways and uses common people like you and me and the bus driver!  

*this blog is in no way trying to insult pastors and what they do, I have been moved by many a sermon presented by my favorite pastors (Randy Engle and Bill DeVries)!