I’m used to being the centre of attention on the bus. I guess it’s the huge, metallic silver cello case on my back. Some people stare or laugh. Others ask what it is. And there’s the regular wisecrack: “I bet you wish you’d chosen the piccolo instead”. But yesterday I lost everyone’s attention. Why? Because a man got on carrying a huge, 5ft by 4ft picture of the Michelangelo image of the finger of God. The bus was full of the usual crowd of elderly shoppers, mums with toddlers, and students who’d just woken up. Every one of them riveted by the man and his picture. Clearly a silver cello can’t compete with a piece of the Sistine Chapel! But it did get me pondering…
Up until that moment, I suspect I was the only one on the bus who was thinking about God. But suddenly He was thrust into view – at least for those who recognised the picture. I’d love to tell you I used this the way Paul used the altar to an unknown God (Acts 17v23). “You see this painting of God’s finger? Let me tell you about the whole of God, and how you can know Him.” But I hesitated too long – and the man got off the bus and into the station, presumably to astound a lot of people on a train as well. So I fluffed my chance. But I’m praying that God will use the incident anyway. That someone from that bus will continue to think, or maybe even say “Guess what I saw on the bus” to a Christian with more courage than me. Because, while a giant finger on a bus is pretty memorable, it’s nothing at all alongside the incomparable riches of our Lord God.
Alison Mitchell is a Senior Editor at The Good Book Company, where she has worked on a range of products including Bible-reading notes for children and families, and the Christianity Explored range of resources. She is the best-selling author of The Christmas Promise and the award-winning Jesus and the Lions' Den.
