No Ticket

No Ticket

We had been through a rough couple of months to add to our rough couple of years, leaving my husband, Michael and I fatigued and fragile. However,the past week had found us especially strengthened in Christ and filled with joy, energy returning, whilst in the midst of it all. I woke with enthusiasm and a bounce and started planning an extra special day out. The gorgeous spring weather had morphed into the heat of summer and I aimed for the coast. I discovered an event being held by the seashore that looked appealing and delightful. “ Sculpture by the Sea” was an exhibition of sculptures on display on the beautiful, scenic coastal walk between the famous Bondi Beach of Sydney and Tamara, two kilometres away. Over one hundred sculptures would be featured by Australian and world wide artists. I was keen and ready to go. I kept our destination as a special surprise from my husband and away we went.

The trip to Bondi was a long way from our home, requiring a series of various transportations over a period of 3 hours. The first leg of our journey found us taking the freeway south bound to Sydney. We planned to park at a railway station and proceed from there. We arrived at the station only to discover the stunning spring weather had encouraged local event organisers to fill up the park by the station with food stalls, entertainment, and attractions, which called forth a horde of people, filling the park to over flowing and making parking impossible. We drove onto find a car park at the next train station. It seemed quiet and lonely and I wondered why. We easily obtained a park and making our way in solitude, went to purchase train tickets. It was here we struck our first ticketing dilemma. The station was unmanned and a ticket machine stood stoically in place of a human being. Our train was due and I stood there accurately pushing money into the machine, pressing the right buttons, and out popped a pile of change and an inclusive train and bus ticket to Bondi Beach. Success and progress. We had one ticket. Now for the other. I pulled out another note and pushed it into the machine and started quickly repeating the pressing of all the buttons. Rejection. The machine returned our money. Not a problem. I simply prodded the money back into the machine and pressed the buttons again. Out spewed our money from the machine. In and out and in and out the note went. Now I was feeling frantic and helpless and desperately praying. I emptied my peach coloured purse out and discovered a handful of change to put into the machine. Hope. I slotted coin after coin into the machine. Suddenly, I was no longer able to place the last and eleventh coin inside. It closed down ten cents short. I rapidly read the fine print by the coin slot. The machine will accept only ten coins per ticket. My husband and I in panic started counting our coins out and sorting out how to turn eleven coins into ten but to no avail. It could not be done. Not a problem, we could still use a credit card. Then we heard a low rumbling and the ringing of metal on metal. Our train was coming and we couldn’t work fast enough. The train pulled in, the doors opened, people alighted, people stepped in, the doors shut, and the train moved on, without us. A wave of despair, sadness and “poor me” swept across my soul. Why couldn’t we just buy a simple ticket without some trial slashing out at us once more. Self rose up in me and I felt a resistance to the trial. I don’t want this. Couldn’t we simply have one day free from hassles? I said nothing  but in abject despair I started trying to purchase a ticket with my credit card. Time and again it was rejected. I stood there at a loss. How could we travel without a ticket?We had no choice but to take the journey without the second ticket.

When we reached Bondi Junction the thoughtful railway worker, who listened with understanding to our troubled story, waved me through and allowed me to travel for free. However, a new dilemma presented itself as we went to queue up for a bus to Bondi Beach. Michael had a bus ticket as part of his train ticket and I was yet to have any ticket. However, there were bus ticket machines, two of them side by side. I couldn’t go wrong this time, or could I? I went from one machine to the next, back and forth trying to purchase a bus ticket. Each time I was rejected. Finally to my amazement the machine accepted my coins, the hope of the ticket being in my hand was joyously expected but the machine only swallowed my money and sent forth no ticket. Again a wash of misery flooded over me. Again my soul felt pulled into a deep chasm of darkness and again the urge to resist the trial came upon me. I turned and saw a ticket salesman. I real live person. I was directed to how to obtain my ticket and upon finally receiving it in my hand, we excitedly boarded the bus and continued our journey to Bondi Beach.

We had a relaxed, carefree and happy time together as we walked the pathway by the seashore, enjoying the sculptures and revelling in the beauty of the ocean, the wide expanse of sky and the rugged rocky coastal line. However, God called to my heart. Twice I had been placed in a frustrating situation and twice I had emotionally responded with a swing from despair to resistance, from sadness to combativeness. Words from Bible verses flowed into my mind. James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” Joy? God wants me to feel joy? 1 Peter 4:12, 13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

It seemed like such a small insignificant trial but on top of all we had been going through it had felt like the straw that broke the camels back. Jesus says, “Don’t be surprised by hard times, rejoice, have joy. It is a time to press closer to me, a time to hear my heart beat and know me on a deeper level. I too experienced trials and hardships. Come and experience the faith I had in those times.” I smile at how God took me from questioning gloom and contention to seeing the call to experience the faith of Jesus. This is the life He wants me to have. I smile. Not only did God reveal himself to me and show me His way, I ended up being five dollars ahead after I purchased my one way ticket, from a ticket salesman back to the car park.

James 1:12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.