Bug Me: The Hidden Joy of Inconveniences

There I was, minding my own business.  Well, actually I was enjoying a nice evening at a festival called “Weekends of the World,” and I was having a good time watching the Latina section show off their salsa, meringue, and cha-cha...but back to the story.  There weren’t many places to sit, so my friend and I chose to sit upon a stone wall near some bushes. 

So there I was, and that’s when I felt it, something crawling on my leg.  Without looking, I swiped it away, and as I looked down, I saw a huge spider crawling away on the ground.  No harm done, I thought to myself, and there was no reason to make a fuss over it.  Bugs are bugs, and I try not to be too afraid of them or get too bothered by them.  Being so proud in my lack of reaction to the spider, I turned my attention back to the dancers.  My friend sitting next to me, however, jumped up after looking at me.  Thinking she was afraid of the spider who was now crawling its way back up the stone wall, I started to reassure her that it was fine.  However, it was I that needed a talking to as she pointed and said, “You don’t want to know…you don’t want to know.”  I looked to where she was pointing, down at my shorts, and that’s when I saw it, a HUGE bug had attached itself to my clothes.  This indeed caught me off guard, and I immediately jumped up, dropped everything in my hands (including my camera), screamed, and flicked the bug off of me.  

I had successfully created a scene.  Next, my friend and I looked at each other, and we just started laughing.  I, of course, was embarrassed about screaming as many people were now staring, but laughing made the situation way better.  The bug was doing just fine on the ground, slightly better than the camera, also still on the ground.  So of course we had to take pictures of the bug.  The pictures really don’t do it justice.  The bug was slightly larger than the size of a silver dollar (you know, those coins the tooth fairy used to bring), which is of course why I was so frightened at first.  But none of this is the point.

By this seemingly incident, we were able to meet people who we otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to talk to on normal terms.  You see, most people were standing there watching the dancers and enjoying the music, not really allowing for lots of interaction between people as their focus was on the performance.  However, because of what I’m guessing was frantic behavior on my part, the door was opened for conversation.  People came to see what had happened, if we were all right, etc.  My friend Sini ended up in conversation with a couple local people, and it turns out they were Christians too!  She got to have an encouraging conversation with them and even the chance to reconnect with them during the course of the summer.  As for me, I ended up in a conversation with a man from Turkey.  Originally he had thought that I screamed because I dropped my camera, but then he realized the whole bug situation.  This started a conversation, and after talking for awhile, he commented how happy and positive I seemed to be about life.  This led me straight into telling him why I was so happy, and I was able to share about the joy I have because of Christ.  We chatted for a bit more and before going our separate ways, he commented how he thought it was great that I had such purpose and strong belief system.  No, he didn’t give his life to the Lord right there and nothing especially miraculous happened, but I am thankful for the seed that was planted in his life.  I find that it’s always so exciting to share about my Savior, and I’m thankful for the opportunity that I had to do so last night, all because of a bug!  Please be praying with me that God uses others to continue to plant, water, and cultivate seeds in this Turkish man’s life that he may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus!

Why am I sharing all of this?  Well, for one, it’s slightly comical so I thought you might all at least get a smile out of my frantic behavior.  Secondly, though, I want to encourage you all to look for the purpose in seemingly small incidents, especially in ones that could be considered inconvenient.  It was inconvenient for a bug to crawl on me in that moment when I was trying to enjoy the festival performance.  It was inconvenient for me to drop my camera and for it to get a little bit broken.  It was embarrassing to have all those people staring at me.  But you know, God had a plan, and believers were able to be encouraged through the situation, and a man was able to hear about the wonderful hope there is in Christ!  Throughout Jesus’ time on earth, we see numerous times where Jesus was stopped on His way to somewhere or in the middle of His teaching in order to meet someone’s needs.  In fact, it’s hard to recall a time when this didn’t happen!  And yet, He wasn’t disturbed or annoyed; He was always ready to do the will of His Father in helping people and bringing hope, and ultimately, He died an inconvenient death in order to save us all.  Let us all be encouraged today to not be bothered by the inconveniences but to listen closely to the Holy Spirit, to be available to be used by God in those moments!   May we have the attitude of, “Bug Me!”    

Blessings, friends!  :)