Stop the Bus!
A Mexican friend and I needed to travel from Mexico City to Veracruz. This was about a 7 hour ride through the mountains. The bus made the trip overnight so it was a good time to sleep and arrive in Veracruz rested for the next day. I was sitting next to the window with my friend at my left.
We were weaving through the winding mountain roads. It was totally dark outside and also inside the bus. Suddenly, my friend said to me, “Brother David, I just heard a very ugly voice!” Everyone was asleep or quietly resting. No one was speaking to him or to anyone. There was total silence on the bus.
I wondered what was going on. It did not take any special discernment to realize that something dangerous was about to happen. I was going to tell my friend that he should stay at my place for a while instead of going directly to his house when we got to Veracruz. While I was thinking this, a loud shot rang out. It seemed like the bus had been hit by gunfire. Everyone yelled, “Turn on the lights!”
It turned out that bandits would be on the secluded mountain roads at night. They would shoot at passing buses. The buses would come to stop to see what the problem was, which would take some distance to slow and find a good place at the side of the road to park. The bandits' partners would be waiting the quarter mile or so beyond the people who fired the original shots. When the bus would stop, the second group of bandits would enter the buses and rob everyone at gunpoint.
When all the people on our bus yelled at the driver to turn on the lights, he did. It was then that I saw that my friend was bleeding. The bullet had hit our window and shattered the inner plate of safety glass. The impact of the flying glass pieces had missed me but hit my friend. Thankfully, he was not seriously hurt. It was just some minor cuts from the pieces of glass.
Our driver immediately shut the lights off. Instead of stopping the bus, he knew enough to speed up and kept driving. Whatever robbers were waiting for us to stop were disappointed. I instantly sensed that the danger I had felt earlier was completely over.
When we arrived in Veracruz it was still dark outside. As the bus pulled up to our stop, the lights of the station were on. I could finally see the shattered window clearly. I saw that the inner layer of glass was mostly gone. Then I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. The bullet that had struck the bus was still lodged in the outer layer of safety glass just inches from my head. The flying glass had missed my face. The bullet stopped just short of my head. Thank God for His protection.
Dec. 4, 2023