One day a woman came to the food bus and asked Gus if he could have the food bus on the beach at 5am the next morning. A group of religious people were going to have a ‘Sunrise Prayer Meeting’ on the beach, and they would need some food. Gus pointed out that he did not make breakfast food, but the woman said cold cereal would be fine.
Gus went to the store and bought all kinds of cereal and then parked the bus by the beach (but not close to the water) and went to sleep. The next morning Gus discovered that he had forgotten to buy cereal bowls, spoons, and milk! Gus did not know what to do, so he got out some big bowls and mixed all the kinds of cereal together in the big bowls for the people. When the people arrived, they did not even notice that there were no small bowls, spoons, or milk. They just grabbed handfuls of cereal out of the big bowls and went onto the beach and began to pray!
That morning Gus heard all kinds of prayers! It seemed like most of the people prayed about themselves. One man thanked God that he was not like the homeless man who did not have a steady job and lived on the beach. A woman bragged to God about how much money she had given to the poor and the heathen that lived in other countries. Other people prayed about how good they were and how happy they were that they were not like the sinful people they had seen in the city. It seemed like most of the people were not really interested in talking to God, they just wanted to talk about themselves and talk about how good they were.
There was one girl that was different. She sat by herself away from the rest of the group, and she was crying! She buried her face in her hands and told God how sorry she was that she had left Him and made an absolute mess of her life! She was begging for God’ mercy and forgiveness!
That night Gus read another parable in his Bible. In Luke 18:9-14 it says:
Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people – cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The prayer meeting on the beach had been just like this parable; most of the people only prayed about themselves, they did not focus on God at all! At first Gus was very critical of the people at the prayer meeting, but then he realized that most of the time he prayed like that too! It was so easy to focus on how good he was compared to some other people, and brag about himself!
Gus wrote in the Gus-Bus Eternal Journal:
God I am so sorry that most of my prayers are about me! I should not compare myself to others or brag about how good I am! Compared to Jesus, I am so sinful and am not worthy to be forgiven! If Jesus had not died on the cross to pay for my sins, I would not have a chance to get to heaven. I need to see myself like that one girl on the beach who was crying out to the Lord and begging for mercy and forgiveness! She truly was connecting to God!