How Did He Know That
It was a nice Monday afternoon, the birds were singing and all was right with the world. Ok, so I did not actually hear the birds singing but that doesn't mean they weren't singing. And none of this has anything to do with my funny story but it seemed like a fun way to start my amazingly awesome story. Oops! Guess I need to read my post on humility.
It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Okay, okay, I will skip to my story. It was actually a Monday afternoon and my route for the day was a special needs bus that was equipped with a wheelchair lift. Another teacher and I were having trouble getting one of the students buckled in when I heard the wheelchair lift being activated by yet another teacher. I went to the back of the bus to receive our wheelchair rider.
As I was getting her on board, another student was pretty much underfoot watching everything I was doing. When I got the wheelchair in place, I attached the tie downs to the wheelchair and my little supervisor explained to me that I had attached them in the wrong place. Where I had placed them would have kept the wheelchair secure, but I had not used the brackets on the wheelchair that were provided specifically for that purpose.
Mind you all this activity had me behind schedule, but I begrudgingly obliged my little supervisor's request to I do it right and reattached everything so it was correct. When I finished fixing my mistake, the teacher was still trying to calm down the other student who was not happy with the seat restraints we had for him. Eventually the teacher decided to leave with the assurance that the student would calm down after she left. This turned out to be true although it seemed a little suspect at the time.
So now I am on my way 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule. I arrive at the stop of the little girl in the wheelchair. Mom of course is waiting and it is not long before I have the wheelchair on the lift and lower it down and mom and daughter are reunited. I store the lift inside the bus and try to shut the door so we can be off to our next stop. But the door will not shut! I check to see if I have everything in place and try again. No deal. After several attempts I am thinking that I will have to get on the radio and call the garage. Maybe they can give me some advice but they might need to send another bus. My 20 minutes behind is now looking like it might be 30 or 40 minutes.
When all seems lost I hear a voice from heaven saying, "The problem is the safety strap." I could not see him because of the wheelchair lift, but my little supervisor had come to the doorway and was explaining to me what the problem was. Indeed, the safety strap had moved to the wrong position and was preventing the door from shutting. This time I happily followed his instructions and although it still was hard to shut, the door did finally close. I climbed on board to hear my little supervisor say, "Oh yeah, you have to slam the door." LOL
I was so happy to be back on the road that I profusely thanked by little supervisor and gave him 2 bus bucks instead of the one he asked for. (A bus buck is a coupon that students can turn in for candy and pencils, etc.) In addition, I made sure that his mom knew how helpful he was. . . and to think I had started the afternoon thinking I did not need any supervision.
What had seemed like an annoyance turned out to be my salvation. Obviously it was because he was so interested in everything that was happening that he could explain to me what he had witnessed with the previous driver. At the time though, I would have preferred that he sit quietly and look out the window or fall asleep like the others had done.
Most of you know that I like to be funny. It can come in handy when the mood is heavy or things are not going well. It can also irritate people who are around me a lot. Kathy does well dealing with my humor and she even prayed before I came along that if God had someone for her that he would have a sense of humor. Still, it can be annoying at times for her.
So my thought for this week is that dealing with people often requires patience but we should remember that what is irritating to us sometimes can be of great benefit to us at other times. We all have gifts and qualities that can be both helpful and annoying. My advice is to stock up on grace and forgiveness every morning because we are probably going to need it. Just a thought.
The trees in my back yard are almost bare of leaves these days. Next week I will share some things I think we can learn from the trees. Don't miss, "Please Don't Leaf Me."
It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. Okay, okay, I will skip to my story. It was actually a Monday afternoon and my route for the day was a special needs bus that was equipped with a wheelchair lift. Another teacher and I were having trouble getting one of the students buckled in when I heard the wheelchair lift being activated by yet another teacher. I went to the back of the bus to receive our wheelchair rider.
As I was getting her on board, another student was pretty much underfoot watching everything I was doing. When I got the wheelchair in place, I attached the tie downs to the wheelchair and my little supervisor explained to me that I had attached them in the wrong place. Where I had placed them would have kept the wheelchair secure, but I had not used the brackets on the wheelchair that were provided specifically for that purpose.
So now I am on my way 15 to 20 minutes behind schedule. I arrive at the stop of the little girl in the wheelchair. Mom of course is waiting and it is not long before I have the wheelchair on the lift and lower it down and mom and daughter are reunited. I store the lift inside the bus and try to shut the door so we can be off to our next stop. But the door will not shut! I check to see if I have everything in place and try again. No deal. After several attempts I am thinking that I will have to get on the radio and call the garage. Maybe they can give me some advice but they might need to send another bus. My 20 minutes behind is now looking like it might be 30 or 40 minutes.
When all seems lost I hear a voice from heaven saying, "The problem is the safety strap." I could not see him because of the wheelchair lift, but my little supervisor had come to the doorway and was explaining to me what the problem was. Indeed, the safety strap had moved to the wrong position and was preventing the door from shutting. This time I happily followed his instructions and although it still was hard to shut, the door did finally close. I climbed on board to hear my little supervisor say, "Oh yeah, you have to slam the door." LOL
I was so happy to be back on the road that I profusely thanked by little supervisor and gave him 2 bus bucks instead of the one he asked for. (A bus buck is a coupon that students can turn in for candy and pencils, etc.) In addition, I made sure that his mom knew how helpful he was. . . and to think I had started the afternoon thinking I did not need any supervision.
What had seemed like an annoyance turned out to be my salvation. Obviously it was because he was so interested in everything that was happening that he could explain to me what he had witnessed with the previous driver. At the time though, I would have preferred that he sit quietly and look out the window or fall asleep like the others had done.
Most of you know that I like to be funny. It can come in handy when the mood is heavy or things are not going well. It can also irritate people who are around me a lot. Kathy does well dealing with my humor and she even prayed before I came along that if God had someone for her that he would have a sense of humor. Still, it can be annoying at times for her.
So my thought for this week is that dealing with people often requires patience but we should remember that what is irritating to us sometimes can be of great benefit to us at other times. We all have gifts and qualities that can be both helpful and annoying. My advice is to stock up on grace and forgiveness every morning because we are probably going to need it. Just a thought.
The trees in my back yard are almost bare of leaves these days. Next week I will share some things I think we can learn from the trees. Don't miss, "Please Don't Leaf Me."
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