Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Jesus, the bus and me

I've seen similar back in Wales but never as intense as it appears in L.A. There are some people who have decided that God has called them to a Bus mission.
They could be male or female, they get on the bus and begin preaching the word of the Lord. It gets interesting at times, these folks are just frustrated preachers looking for a congregation and the bus gives them a captive audience. I could make them stop but it's entertaining enough that I usually let them get on with it while I enjoy the show.
Where it gets to be real fun is when another preacher gets on while one is in full swing. It is obvious to both of them that the good Lord would not send two of his ministers onto the same bus, therefore one of them is a false prophet. Oh it's good stuff and makes the day go by. I love to get a chuckle from these things.
One of the features of L.A. is the mixture of devout christianity with total depravity. Like the old woman running for my bus, probably moving a lot faster than she should have been all the while yelling;
"Wait! Wait! or I will kill you in the name of Jesus."
Just the other day I was at a bus stop, saw a young woman running for the bus. I waited and when she got on, totally out of breath, in between gasps for air she said;
"Oh, thank you Lord, thank you Jeeesus, coz I'm drunk as a motherfucker."
Which brings me to the videos on the sidebar. They really have nothing to do with my life of picking up and dropping off. They are videos I made for my YouTube account. They reflect something of my own religious convictions. Christian readers beware I'm not one of you.
I'm a pagan. I don't worship any God but I give honor to Mother Earth and Father sky. The lady of the Lake and the Wild God of the Forest are as real to me as the air I breathe.
These convictions color my views on life, the universe and bus driving.
I got into a conversation with a pastor from one of the African American churches here. At the end of it he walked away shaking his head saying;
"That boy got one messed up theology."
But it works for me. I look at L.A. and buses from a Welsh Druid perspective. It's a bit different and I don't have the negative view that I've often seen displayed by colleagues here and in the U.K. I believe that this different outlook helps me in many situations.
One day while driving through South Central L.A. a black man demanded, quite loudly to know "What's a white man doing driving through the 'hood." One of my regular passengers answered;
"Hey man, Pete's cool. He's a different kind of Caucasian."
That about sums it up.

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Los Angeles, California, United States