The Bus Ride that Taught Me How to Walk…With God

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It takes ten minutes and forty-one seconds to ride the Los Angeles RTD from the corner of Slauson and Keniston to the corner of Manchester and La Brea. At least it did when I was in high school. It also takes ten minutes and forty-one seconds for me to read all five chapters of John’s First Epistle, which is why I know how long it takes to ride that bus route.

The reason I know that the time it takes to traverse that route and the time it takes for me to read 1 John are the same is because I made a practice of reading 1 John on that bus every school day for one and a half years – until I got my first car and started driving myself to school…and dating girls.

The car was a red ’69 Datsun 411, one of the very first Japanese imports that heralded what would soon become an Asian import tsunami. I bought that Datsun for $1,100, drove it for ten years through high school, college and seminary, and then sold it for $200 after I dated my wife-to-be, Patti, in it once.

But I digress.

I started reading 1 John on the bus because it was my uncle’s favorite book of the Bible and Uncle John was my favorite uncle. Dr. John G. Mitchell was a well-known and influential pastor and Bible teacher in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife, “Auntie Mary,” were greatly revered by our family, including myself.¹

One morning, when I was a freshman in high school, I got on the bus, thought of Uncle John’s affinity for 1 John, and decided to read it for myself. I finished all five chapters just as the bus pulled up to my stop.

“Cool!” I thought. “My bus ride is exactly the length of time it takes me to read 1 John.” So I decided then and there that I would read 1 John every day while riding the bus on my way to school. It was one of those decisions that left an indelible imprint on my life. In fact, 1 John comes roaring into my brain all the time.

On the one hand, the Book of 1 John is ethereal and otherworldly. Having fellowship with God and others, walking in the light, loving God, and living life in eternity are major themes. But what does that have to do with a freshman kid in high school who can’t wait to get his first car and start dating girls? Not much, one would think.

On the other hand, 1 John is also concrete and this-worldly. John makes it clear from the very beginning that he is talking about Someone he has seen and heard and touched. And our love for God is only real if we truly love our all too real brother in Christ whom we may be tempted to hate, or tempted to avoid when he is in need. We can’t walk with God in the spiritual realm if we are sinning in this physical realm. And our only hope for avoiding the pitfalls of this concrete world is to abide with Christ in the spiritual world.

What does that have to do with a freshman kid in high school who can’t wait to get his first car and start dating girls? Everything.

1 John paints for us a beautiful but cautious picture of ourselves as Christians in the world. Genuine and meaningful relationships with God and people are possible, but we have to deal with our sin. Truly evil things can happen to us and be done by us in this life if we do not abide in Christ. There are people out there who are trying to deceive and destroy us, whom we must avoid. There are also people out there who need our genuine love and sacrifice. An eternity of perfection and joy awaits us. Until then, the blood of Christ covers us and calls us to live a higher, more meaningful life of love, knowing all the while that God accepts us.

All in all, it was a good year and a half…and great preparation for getting a car and dating girls.

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

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1. I’ve written about John and Mary Mitchell’s influence on my life in “My Tribute to Dr. and Mrs. John G. Mitchell.”