We tend to think of ourselves as freewheeling free spirits, rolling down life’s highway, the route laid out, with the goal always somewhere up ahead. But the truth is, we are all passengers in a wayward bus, travelling down a lonely road that seems to have no end, past cornfields and tract homes, past malls and gas stations, none of which seem real, for in truth we never stop to see if the corn is ripe or if the kids in the tract houses are playing stickball in the street, never stop to see what’s on sale in the mall or never seem to need to stop for gas.  We’re just passengers, along for the ride.

The bus is filled with those like thee
The driver undefined
The destination well may be
Just simple peace of mind
We take our seat when we are born
And ride the lonely road
Past shopping malls and fields of corn
Each mile the once light load
Gets heavier as we proceed
Down troubled life’s highway
So great the load the love we need
Seems not to come our way
But that’s because we do not see
Through dirty windows fogged
That there is One who waits for thee
As all the miles are logged
Yes, God’s the driver of the bus
He shows to you the way
He does not scold, He makes no fuss
If you care not to stay
At any time if you so choose
You may depart the road
And leave the bus with naught to lose
Except the heavy load
That God has given you to bear
That takes you to your goal
That keeps you in God’s tender care
And your immortal soul
You leave the bus to your great cost
For toll roads driven fast
And at the end you find you’ve lost
By thinking it would last