Moral: Don't miss the bus to heaven

By Cindy Jury

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Doesn’t it drive you crazy?
One morning I woke up with a really old song milling around uninvited in my head. I always tend to get words a little jumbled up, but I’m thinking it goes something like this: “There’s no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you’ve been left behind."

The feeling of that song reminds me of the time my son Ian missed his bus. He was probably 6 at the time. It was one of those days where my alarm clock did not go off. I swear this clock hates me. I don’t know why I keep it. It’s supposed to be relaxing and sound like the ocean and birds, but it sounds more like static and old, mean crows. The noise reminds me of that Hitchcock thriller, “The Birds,” where birds go crazy and start attacking everyone. It’s so relaxing to wake up to!

Back to the morning in question: My psycho alarm clock and killer birds sleep in and I wake up on my own, realizing that we only have a couple of minutes to get ready for the bus. My poor, unsuspecting son is still asleep. I go to wake him up and in my stress, I don’t do it gently. (The shocked look in his eyes reminded me of the time I purposely scared my brother, Randy. Growing up, Randy loved to antagonize his little sister... me. He was the kind of kid that pretended his Halloween candy was gone, so I would feel sorry for him and selflessly give him a bunch of mine. Then when mine was gone, his hidden stash would magically reappear. He did the same thing with Pop Tarts. So I decide to get this annoying brother back one morning before school. I go in his room and he is sleeping like a baby. I go get some thick, clear hair gel, smear and go to the candy-hoarder’s side. I let out a huge sneezing sound. He wakes up and I “accidentally” fall into him with my hand, smearing this clear gel all over his face. The sound that left his mouth was like one of the weird, metamorphosed creatures in a Stephen King movie.)

But back to my son’s awakening: We see a bright, yellow blur passing by our window and realize that we’ve missed the bus. Ian could not have been more horrified had I played the snot-gel trick on him.
He has his own alarm clock now - luckily a friendly one - and he’s always up an hour and a half before school. So it got me to thinking about this song, about traumatic events like missing buses, and what would it feel like to be left behind by Jesus? What if you and your friend are walking and you’re the one that disappears into heaven and the friend you love so much is left behind? How good a friend were you to let them “miss the bus”? Did you at least share the bus schedule with them and let them decide?

All of this over an uninvited song. Any songs milling around in your head? Maybe it’s time to talk to my friends. It’s definitely time to go buy a new alarm clock.

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