50 hrs of Bus Rides Later...

This is a long post but its worth reading.

On Monday I boarded the greyhound bus in Lakeland  at 6:00 pm and hit the  road.  My mother, sister, and Courtney were all there to wish me safe travels.  Out of the five transfer buses i must say they were all relatively nice people except the first bus from Lakeland to Atlanta.  On that bus the guy behind me just got out of jail and was eying my backpack  but i stayed awake the entire way to Atlanta so nothing would happen. 

Now comes the most interesting part of the trip to me.  The bus ftom Atlanta to Richmond was running an hour late.  Greyhound was on the ball though and had an express bus ready to  go so we could be back in schedule.  While on the bus we got a 20 minute break in a truck stop.  Sitting across the isle from me for 12 hours on the different buses had been a woman with two children under 2 years old.  The kids were adorable and had not screamed or cried the entire time.  I could see she didnt want to get the kids up at midnight so i offered to pick up her dinner for her and pay for it.  Well the McDonalds she wanted was closed and my choice was limited to a health foods store in a very overpriced truck stop... I bought her and her kids food though and handed it to them and said "God Bless."  The cute little kids both even said thank you.  I dont think that family would have ate if they had to purchase the food themselves due to the insane prices.  I give the glory to God though because without the previous bus being delayed we wouldn't of been on that bus together.  It also is not my money; it is God's and i am just a steward of it.  For without him providing the resources for me to go hike i would have never been here in the first place.

But it didnt end there.  On the bus to Boston we got delayed again.  This time due to traffic issues.  But during the entire ride to Boston from NYC there was an approximately 60 year old black gentleman sitting 2 seats in front of me.  I could tell he had a lot of health issues due to his limp and horrendous cough.  Right around the point in time where we were supposed to have been to the Boston terminal we were stuck in traffic and the man started yelling at the top of his lungs in pain.  He was slouched over and was in pure misery.  He yelled, Jesus, please have mercy on me; Jesus, I need your help..."  And he said it in a pleading/yelling  manner.  I dont know exactly what happened at this point it became a blur.  Something in my gut told me the man was having a heart attack and i have seen many people having them at the hospital so it looked familiar.  I started praying asking God for prayer from others who may know me that i was in a time of need.  I prayed for the holy spirit to come down on me and filter into him as i stretched my hand towards him what little i could because of the seat in front of me.  All of a sudden i felt the presence of the holy spirit enter me and i declared that in the name of God this illness, this sickness be rebuked from that mans body.  At that instant I felt the holy spirit leave me and within a matter of seconds the man leaned back in his seat not saying another word or crying any more.  I wasnt sure what had happened because here he had been writhing in pain and nobody even looked to help him.  Several minutes went by and this gentleman hopped out of his seat and walked back to the restroom like he was a young man.  The look of pain and despair that once covered his face was replaced with a calm glow.  As he walked towards the restroom in the back he sang praises of joy to Jesus thanking him.  I know that man was healed due to his faith and I thank God that he used me for his greater glory.  I didnt say anything to the man; his praises to the lord our father was enough testament of God's incredible power to those on the bus that i was satisfied.  For anybody that knows me and was praying for me the morning of the 23rd thank you.  I am so grateful God is already using me and i haven't even been on the trail yet.  I look forward to the next occasion where God uses me.  And for those of you who believe this was fake or the holy spirit doesnt exist i pity you.  It is one of the most incredible feelings in the world to be overcome with the holy spirit..