The great lessons i learned yesterday from my journey

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So yesterday i had to take a trip from Yaounde in the Centre region to Bamenda in the North West region of Cameroon. The trip takes about 8 hours by bus and i had the choice to travel by night or day. Due to the unfavourable condition of things in Bamenda, there is an ongoing curfew in the city and all buses entering or leaving Bamenda are expected to enter or leave by 6pm prompt in the evening. Knowing this i still decided to take the day journey knowing that i might not be able to enter Bamenda due to the curfew.

Things started going in the wrong direction just immediately at the start of the journey. We had to use a bigger bus but due to the number of passengers that turned up, we were transfered to a much smaller bus. The trip was not a bad one but the bus was pretty slow and we were running late on time. We arrived at this police checkpoint and all they passengers were supposed to get down to show their ID. We got down and were really trying to hurry things up since we were late. We did and were about to kickoff when we realized that some 3 ladies were not in their seats. Given the fact that we were running out of time, the whole bus got into a whole uproar and we had to spend about 5mins waiting for them. They finally turned up and the certain young man who informed the driver of their absence asked the them to apologise to the other passengers but they snobbed him saying they had told the driver they wanted to get something.

At that point, many in the but who were angry at them for wasting everyones time got even more angry at them the way they treated this young man who stood up for them making sure that we did not leave them behind. They got in a heated outburst with the other passengers and both sides said some things they did not want to say. Things finally cooled off and we reached the last checkpoint to get into the city of Bamenda at 6:30pm and were told we arrived late and so will not be allowed into the city. We had to spend the night there in the bus then continue the next day at 6am. Everyone was disappointed and cursed at the very thought of spending the night in the cold and open.

Even at that point, things couldn't get any worse when the lady involved in the previous uproar brought up the issue of how she felt regarding some of the things that others said to her. I could not just believe it, bringing it up again at this point when everyone was distressed and in the worst state of mind. Another quarrel broke out and words were exchanged again between the two groups. We were all seated some few minutes later wondering how we will spend the night in a tight bus when a strange man approachhed our bus and said he lives in the neighbourhood and said we could pass the night in his place. Many bought the idea and followed him but some were scared of following a stranger. I had a tough choice to make and a lady even made it worse when she came repeating that her spirit did not buy the idea.

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I stood there at this moment and i looked up to heaven and said, "God i place myself in your hands and commit my decision into your hands." With that said, i went on and joined the group that moved to the house. The stranger was very kind and gave us water, he also suggested of a nearby place where we could get food. Meanwhile a kind lady brought out her lunch pack and we all shared of it. The stranger later introduced himself to be a pastor and they often helped out stranded passengers on the way. We ate and he gave beddings and other sleeping materials to most of us. We shared God's word and prayed together and asked the Lord to forgive us for everything that we might have said or done to each other during our trip. We got to know a lot about each other in that situation and the passengers really developed a relationship that was never there. In the most unexpected situation and circumstance, God brought us together and in one focus, something we did not have through out the journey. This journey taught me so many life lessons which i will state in the next lines that follow:

1 . God can use the most awkward situations in life to do things we never thought he will do. We all concluded that this was the worst journey of our lives but it was all in God's plan to do what he had planned using that situation.

2 . We should always forbear each other as some actions and words are often controlled by our state of mind. I know most of the other passengers had the right to be mad at the young ladies who wasted their time at the checkpoint but we also found out that she was trying to get food stuffs for the burial program of her father who died recently and was on her way to her village. She only opened up to us when we were at the pastor's house.

3 . We should always excercise love and appreciate each other in every situation, love and care for each other. It taught me the importance of loving your neighbour as yourself.

4 . I learned to trust God in all situations and to know that everything happens according to his grand plan.

It was a beautiful journey for me and i must admit that i at first thought it was the worst but at the end i appreciated everything that happened and saw the hand of God in it all.