Busking on Blisters - Chapter 9

Busking On Blisters

 

By Paul McCann

Chapter 9

 

The Bus

 

I didn’t feel confident about driving around London so I decided to sell the Avenger.  Before I left Ireland I sold the Avenger at a car boot market and to my surprise I sold it for what I originally paid for it .

 

I was looking forward to seeing Rita again and booked a flight to London .

I surprised her when I walked into the hotel and booked a room for a few days then invited her out for dinner . I also brought had some red roses delivered to where she worked at the reception .

That night as we had dinner she surprised me by telling me she was going on a Christian crusade with her church and invited me to come along .

I had not expected that but saw it was an opportunity for me to do some busking on the way and also walk hand in hand alongside Rita .

I had never saw her in that light and felt drawn to get to know her more so I accepted the offer of going on the crusade with her church .

Rita introduced me to the Pastor and some of the church community . How happy they looked when she told them I would be joining their crusade around the country . I was hugged and embraced into their group and rehearsals soon began under the directio9n of the musical director and Pastor of the Bethnal Green community church

It was mentioned that there might be an opening for a soloist and would I be interested in that spot . I said I would think it over and thought I would ask the Lord in prayer about that decision .

After some though I said I was interested in doing that on the crusade and one evening at rehearsals in front of about thirty people in the church hall I sand from  a hymn book as the choir started some accompany me with back ground vocals. L.

I loved the sound they made as they sang and the spirit that moved amongst us .

It was evident that there was something strong happening here .

After a few weeks of singing and rehearsing the songs I was asked to play and perform a solo a song of my choice . I stood there in front of them and recited a passage from the bible before playing my guitar and singing a song that I wrote called Sovereign Love .  Other members of the music joined in with keyboards and tambourine’s . I felt like a star for a moment and was given a loud applause from everyone there . The crusade was ready to go on the road with a list of venues where we would perform . We had a bus that carried us from place to place . Our songs were welcomed by audiences who listened to the Pastor who preached the love of God straight from his heart .

The songs we sang were like a symphony of life and where ever we went we always felt that the master was listening .

The crusade was receiving some promotion on local radio stations as we travelled around the country . We had been told that many church communities around the country would give us accomadation and food where ever we went .

The pastor was alive with the love of Jesus and on his face he beamed with light and in his voice he had a message of hope and healing . The day came for the crusade to begin and the driver of the bus picked us up from our different locations .

When everyone was collected the pastor counted the passengers then he said in a loud voice  .

“Have we got Jesus on the bus. “  

Everyone answered as one .

“Yes “

“Praise the Lord . Lets get this show on the road .“

 It was a Saturday afternoon on the bus and we were having a sing song as we made our way to the next town  . The driver pulled up saying he had taken a wrong turn and we were lost .; He drove around for a while but still had no idea where he was .  Turning around corner after corner until suddenly the bus driver pulled up to a stop . We found ourselves on a road surrounded by a large crowd .  We couldn’t move forward or back . The large crowd were very vocal and it was clear that wee had nowhere to go .At first we thought there was a riot or some protest going on and then we discovered we had driven into a large crown of football supporters   on their way to a match . Some had rattlers in their hand and others banged on drums. They all shouted and sang  .  It must have been a big game that the local team were playing . The noise on the street was deafening and some of the people on the bus were scared .

The Pastor stood up an appealed for calm saying ,

“We are on the one road together people . We are Gods wheels and wherever we go God feels our fears and God heals our hearts , so if any of you people need to be healed , reach out to the Lord ,  shout out His name here and now in this place . Let me hear you now brothers and sisters . Come on , call on the Lord and be healed “ .

Some of the people on the bus started shouting out the name of Jesus .  

A number of the football fanatics started to walk over to the bus . The closer they came to the bus the louder the people shouted .

The Pastor began to pray and asked the driver to open the door of the bus . Then he walked out among the crowd like a lamb to the slaughter .

He started exchanging a few words to the football fans .

Something miraculously  happened .

Many of the fans handed money over to the pastor and shook his hand . The pastor  got back on to the bus and the crowd parted like the red sea and let us continued our journey without so much as a scratch .

 

 “What on earth did you say to them  Pastor“?

The driver said .

The Pastor replied ,
”I told them that I had a message for them . I told them all the passengers

on the bus had found God and we were on a mission to save the world and if they would let us through the good Lord would show his favour on their team  .“

 

It was almost as if the pastor could hear what God was saying and relayed that to others like an unseen picture he presented an image with his inner eyes  .

He was seeing life exactly the way God wanted it to be for him .

You could see life through the simple words and if you have faith it always overcomes our troubles . The pastor placed his hands in the air and said ,

"All right . Have we got Jesus on the bus  ?"

Everyone replied ,

“Yes .“

“Ok let’s get the show back on the road.”

 

There was a mother with a child in a pram attempting to cross over the busy road . The pastor asked the driver to stop the bus .

He got off and stepped in front of the oncoming traffic and held up his hand .

The traffic stopped and the lady crossed over with her child in the pram .

The mother was so shocked to see and screamed out loud a thank you .

The pastor immediately responded and got back on the bus .

Everybody cheered . It was a powerful moment .

 

The driver laughed and the passengers were not worried anymore . The bus got back on the right road and we drove at full speed but night had fallen before we arrived at our next venue. The driver found a rest area on the side of the road and we slept on the bus until the morning light . As we all awoke, the rain started to pelt down and the driver decided to wait until the wild wind and rain eased off .

“Lets have some food . We have some provisions on the bus everyone. ”

Said the Pastor .

After something to eat we shared stories and a few jokes . Sleeping on the bus together was a little strange but we experienced some common ground there .

Bo-Bo interrupted the chatter and said ,

The rain stopped and everyone was happy to be back on the road .

The driver stopped again as a few cows had managed to get out there on the road in the way of the traffic . There was a farmer on his way in the distance with a stick in his hand .

 
“Looks like McDonalds cows have run away Pastor. “

The driver said .

 
The Pastor got out of the bus and began to drive the cows towards the farmer .

A few of the passengers joined in to help . The farmer was very grateful of the help and soon rounded up the cattle on the side of the road and led them in through a gate on the stone wall . With a relieved look on his face he waved a thank you to those who came to the rescue . In a short while the traffic was moving again .

Everyone laughed .

We were back on the road and on before much longer we arrived at the church community hall with a welcome lunch in a large tent .

We were all invited to spend two days on a large property . It was a Christian retreat home with plenty of rooms to accomadate all of us . During the day we rested our sore backs from sleeping on the bus and chasing cows . During the time we were there a few bus loads arrived with people who had come to hear the Pastor speak and others came for the worship and singing . There were personal testimonies and words of knowledge . There were healings and blessings that flowed during the time we were there . 

In some of the towns we went to we tried to reach out to people in a friendly way with various ideas like street meet . A group of the church community brought a portable gas cooker with a grill and hot plate and handed out free sausages and steak sandwiches .  Some of the local youth were interest in having a chat . It was a kind of  stop over on eat street that gave us an opportunity to get to know them . There were homeless and hungry people and runaways who opened up to us about various issues they were going through . The Pastor would always try to encourage those who were in great need . Often he would say

“God can and will help . Trust Him “.

Simp0le words often were the best . He never preached or bashed them with scripture and in many cases they could see we were approachable .

Young and old with alcohol and drug problems knew that the church community would continue to pray for them .
There were always people who blamed others for how they were. Part of the blame generation. Sadly they became victims of victim and abused because they were abused. Their were so many sad stories that went on and on and on.
The truth is everyone makes their own decisions and must live with the out come of where they ended up .  No one changes until the reward of stopping the abuse out weighs the pain of what they are doing. That’s when God step in only when they  become serious about changing the wrong they are doing .
The truth is that some will die because if their unwillingness to stop doing destructive things to them selves . That why the crusade was out there for those that wanted salvation . It was there to be had if they asked .
There were stories filled with hope in a hopeless world .  Jesus came into the world for people like this not to condemn them in a world that had already done that but to save them and give them the promised of a glorious eternity with Him.

We found angry people who denied God’s existence and after speaking to them the reasons of their denial became evident . They blamed God for all the things that had gone wrong in their lives . Most of the time , it was themselves who had committed wrong or harm to themselves and others . The street meet was a great platform to address issues such as this . If we weren’t talking to people we played some Christian music  CD’s and I would do some busking . Generally speaking it got busy on eat street after the pubs closed .

The crusade when from town to town reaching out and talking about Jesus on the way . The Pastor preached to the faithful in Church Halls and his words were an inspiration for everyone who had come to listen . There was always a key to the message he brought and everything that he said was attached to that key .

During some of the sessions I saw people who were delivered from the bondage of soul ties and blood ties from abusive relationships . There were other people who were healed from sicknesses and cured from addictions . In every place we went people came forward for prayers and the Holy Spirit was alive and working miracles along the way .

Testimonies were given from many about the new life they had found in Jesus and how they had a faith so strong that they wanted to share that with other people . There were those who shared how faith in God beat their drug addiction and were able to profess their hope to other in a teaching not many are able to find .

People who had been healed from cancer spoke of their disbelief in their doctors diagnosis and others with mental health problems turned around everything psychiatrists had said and were now living medication free . There were even  apologies from doctors who spoke of the ignorance they had shown to healings of faith and miracles due to Gods intervention .

People who were impossible cases had found that Jesus made in roads to a new life and better possibilities .  The majority of people who gave their personal testimony spoke of how they were unable to deal with their problems and they resigned themselves to other strategies such as self harm but in the middle of that darkness they found Jesus , the saviour who took them into his hands and lifted them above their issues and cured what was wrong in their lives . With faith and hope in Jesus we can conquer anything . The reality of life is there are many people who do not admit they have a problem in their life and will carry on doing the same thing day after day . The reality of self harm and drug abuse is that it can lead to death . The reality of drinking and driving is that it kills . The reality of violence in relationships can kill .

To tackle problems in our lives we must admit there is a problem in order to stop

Hurting ourselves and others .

During the time we had the street meet we found so many on a one way street with no where to turn . Life is too precious and our sanity must be protected above all else .  The world needs crusades and how quickly twelve months had passed .

 

The entire cycle of life’s seasons has passed and a proposition was put forward for the crusade to go around the world as a faith community known as God’s wheels for the world . I’m not sure if that ever happened as I had decided to return to Australia to continue my busking project . It was brilliant to be part of the crusade and I had seen so many things that will remain with me always .

 

End Of Chapter 9

 

Link to Chapter 10.

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/busking-blisters-chapter-10

 

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