“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105

There’s a kid on my bus who’s a serial loser. Each week, he can be relied upon to leave at least one item of property on the bus as he goes off to school. This week it was once again, a drink bottle – for about the fifteenth time!

This got me thinking about one of the aspects of life on the buses – the constant phenomenon of the ‘Lost and Found’. In the storage racks of my coach, you’ll find caps and sun-hats from at least eight primary schools, jumpers and shirts, maybe a bag or two and other items of property that kids simply take on board and leave behind.

Across my time I’ve found shoes, boots, ear-buds, mobile phones, water bottles and bags. Depending on their value, they’ll go to the depot’s Lost Property office to be claimed later (or not) by the student….or they’ll simply remain on the bus until it’s next tidied up.

It would seem that lost stuff and the management of lost property is indeed just part of the job. What about though, when people feel lost? What about when you might have felt lost? What about when you know someone who you think might be lost or you know is lost? And when I ask these questions, I’m not referring to someone who can’t find their way from point A to B in a physical sense or who has lost an item, but by ‘lost’ I mean those who may be struggling to find meaning in life or struggling with what life is. Those who have lost something or someone and find themselves adrift in the world not knowing how to reconnect. Wondering how or where to go in their life. That’s losing something of a more serious nature.

Sadly, this ‘On the buses’ article can’t and won’t provide all of the answers. I wouldn’t presume to know all the answers. I do though take great comfort in the belief that during life’s journey – whether we find ourselves on a clear path or whether we somehow find ourselves ‘lost property’ within a community that moves on at furious pace, I take comfort in the belief that as we go, God walks beside us….that we are not alone in our lostness….that there is always hope in being ‘found’. There is always hope in being reclaimed. Well, that’s what I believe, though you’ll never find it in the Bus Driver’s Manual.

I take comfort that through Christ, we are not ‘lost property’. We are just waiting to be found. We all know the empty feeling when you’ve lost something. It’s something similar to the empty feeling when you’ve lost direction in life.

Though the words of the Prophet Isaiah will never be found in any ‘Bus Drivers Manual’, I think they’re relevant to the care of things (or people) who find themselves lost……..
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11

Lost stuff. Maybe it’s floating around somewhere on my bus? Maybe I’ll find it and hand it back to you. I hope I do.

When you yourself feel lost in life though, what I can offer with some encouragement and confidence is that I believe that God walks beside you and that no, you’re not alone. I believe that through Christ, you will be found. You will be reclaimed and I pray for your reclamation.

Safe travels everyone!

Peter Heazlewood
Bus Driver