One day when Gus was very busy selling food, a very rich man came to the food bus and wanted to talk to Gus. Gus said that he would talk to the man as soon as he had a free moment. The man was very rich and well-known in southern California, and he had an unusual request; he wanted to hire Gus to cater an outdoor picnic for all the people that had helped the rich man! Gus was happy that the rich man wanted to hire him, but he told the man that he did not think grilled cheese sandwiches, tacos, and french fries would be appropriate for such an important meal. The rich man said that he loved Gus’ food and he was sure all his guests would like it too!
On the day of the picnic, Gus drove the food bus to the rich man’s house. The rich man had a mansion and hundreds of acres of land! There was a huge tent set up so that the guests would have a nice place to eat. Gus parked the food bus close to the tent and started to cook food!
There was a problem! None of the invited guests showed up! They all had excuses! One person was too busy at work, another was getting ready to leave on a trip, another had tickets to a game, another had ‘more important’ friends, another wanted to play video games, and another had just gotten a new phone and could not be bothered by going to a picnic!
The rich man was mad! The tent was ready, the food was ready, and all those people were too busy to come to the picnic! The rich man quickly invited other people, and some of them came, but there was still a lot of empty seats in the tent! The rich man said to Gus, “Take your bus and go and find more people, I want the tent to be filled!
So, Gus took the food bus and started looking for people! He found some farm workers and loaded them on the bus, he went into the city and found some people in the park and loaded them onto the bus! The bus was full, so Gus dropped these people off at the picnic and then went to look for some more. Gus found some homeless people begging for money and he loaded them on the bus. Gus found disabled people at an assisted living home and loaded them on the bus.
Gus kept bringing busloads of people to the picnic until the tent was full and overflowing! Then they all sat down to eat, and Gus was busy cooking food all through the night and into the next day, and several times he had to go to the city to buy more supplies! When some of the people who were originally invited heard how great the picnic was, they now wanted to come. But the rich man said that no one could come to the picnic after the picnic had started, those people had missed their chance! When the picnic was finally over, Gus had to take all those people back to where they came from!
At the end of those long days, the rich man gave Gus a huge amount of money and thanked him for all his help! Gus had never been so rich in his life! He put the money in the bank with all the other money he had made, and again he asked God, “What do you want me to do with all this money?” God did not give Gus an answer to that question yet, so Gus was content to leave the money in the bank until God showed him what to do with it.
After Gus took a long nap, he opened his Bible to Luke 14:16-24 and read the parable of the Great Feast:
Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have got married, so I can’t come.’
The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, “Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full.
For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’”
Gus wrote in the Gus-Bus Eternal Journal:
The rich man’s picnic was very much like the parable of Jesus about the Great Feast! God’s great feast is the celebration when all true believers finally get to heaven! Heaven is not just for the rich and famous people, everyone is invited, but if they get caught up in all the things of this life and do not respond to God’s invitation to get forgiven, then they will miss out on the great feast in heaven, and not get to heaven at all! Once this life is over, it is too late to change your mind! God, please help me to tell others about the gift of forgiveness offered by Jesus, and help the people I know and the people I meet make the right decision and accept Jesus’ forgiveness and live for Him!