bus stories part 1

well, I couldn't write that last blog without thinking of some stories! I've got a lot of them! here is one of my favorites:

one time, I was taking a group of kids home from santa cruz and the bus broke down. I called for some other vehicles to take them home, and I waited just off of highway 17 for a tow truck. I called the company and told them that I was from venture church and I needed a tow for my bus. he took a LONG, LONG time to come and get me! when the driver finally got to me he was very excited to meet me. he introduced himself and asked what my name was. when I said Rob his face sank. "what's wrong?" I asked. He said, "I was really hoping that you would be Chip Ingram."

then my face sank.

I've got a lot of bark stories too. so many. I could make my own blog of vomit stores after 20 years in youth ministry. one time we were in the bus and we looked back and it looked like a boy was coughing up blood. we pulled over and he had it everywhere. all over his face, hands, shirt, everywhere. when he got out of the bus we discovered that it wasn't blood, he had eaten a giant bag of fire-hot cheetos and all of that heat and swaying made him car sick. unfortunately he barfed into his hands and touched every seat on his way out of the bus. we had the floors switched from carpet to vinyl soon after.

when I was an intern I was in a bus on the way home from LA. a student said that he had to go potty. I thought he was messing with me because we had just stopped a few minutes earlier. I told him to go in a soda cup. well, he did! I didn't want that thing spilling so we pulled over, and he threw it out. the next week his dad asked me why I didn't let him go potty. I told the dad that I thuoght he was messing with me. the dad said, "rob. when a kid has diarrhea you don't tell him to go in a soda cup!"
wait. WHAT?!
lesson learned.

one time I opened the bus driver-side door with my friend Ed, and we saw in the door hinge that some wasps built a nest. apparently wasps freaked Ed out, because he became a mixture of paranoid and violent. he got a beach towel and waved it at that wasp nest trying to knock it loose. he just ended up making them mad and they chased him all over the parking lot. he ran around the parking lot waving that beach towel and screaming bloody murder. I'm tearing up with happy tears just remembering that moment now. we ended up going to home depot and getting some wasp spray to get rid of them.

one time in mexico we were driving to some remote spot that had no roads. there was this big lump in the road that I had to drive over. I knew that if I drove it in the wrong way, I could literally tip the bus on its side. how do you take a road lump like that? slow? fast? I chose slow. I pulled up slowly and that bus stood there leaning at and angle nearly tipping over. now what? keep driving slowly? gas it? how would I get it tipped back if it fell? would I smash the windows? how would we get home? that moment seemed to last forever. I got the thing over the hump, but that moment haunted me for years.

I used to drive the busses in the morning to shuttle the church workers around the corner so that we could make parking spots for all of the guests at church. we parked right next to a fence that housed a couple of horses. I was sitting in the bus with the door closed, waiting for my friend to step inside. she stopped, picked some flowers, and held them out for the horse. the horse came over to her, and started nibbling the flowers. I opened the bus door, and it made that electronic opening sound, and that horse lost its mind. it freaked out. it stood on its hind legs, and started jumping and bucking. I thought it was going to hop the fence and go wild. I called my friend into the bus, we shut the door and did a duck and cover until he calmed down. super-scary.

one time I drove to the snow in a blizzard. in the bus. not fun.

so many fun and crazy memories! I'll post more as I remember them!
God is love.
-rev-rob