The Chronicles of 8.4.05 - 8.11.05: Part 2

8.5.05

I woke up at 2:30am - armed and ready to go with my new ipod mini to the Greyhound Bus Station. I was supposed to be boarding a bus at 4:30 which would arrive in Indy at 7am just in time for Jess to get off her flight from Cali and come pick me up so that we could venture to the great white north, Minneapolis, for Tim and Brittany's wedding. However, much to my frustration, not only was the bus late, overbooked, and the next bus canceled due to the sickness of the driver, but I didn't get to board until 7:30.

Well, the girl in front of me, Hannah, and I were the last 2 not to make it on the overbooked bus, so we started talking and somehow we got on the subject of the Honduras trip I led and I had the chance to show off my pics (laptops are amazing) and that conversation led into us getting to share our stories with each other until I finally departed my voyage with Greyhound at 11:30 in Indy (poor Jess had to wait a long time). Anyways, Hannah believes in Karma - you get what you give and in the end you are recycled back into the earth. She did hold to the fact that there is something divine about us, so we explored what it means when the scriptures teach about us being created in the image of God and I had a great chance to share Jesus' message with her as we spoke. We spent most our time talking about the beginning and the end, either creation or eschatology. It was a great conversation, definitely challenged me, although I would have liked to hear more of what was happening within her heart. If Hannah didn't live in New York I feel like we'd make good friends. While holding different perspectives we seemed to be able to understand what the other was communicating. In the end, I think she was left with a whole different picture of what following Jesus could look like and probably more from the style of the conversation than anything communicated. Cool how God redeemed my time with Greyhound.

While on the subject of Karma, read this quote from Bono.

"It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma."
The interviewer asks, What's that? "At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one," explains Bono. "And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that. . . . Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff."
The interviewer asks, Like what? "That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge," says Bono. "It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."