Gus was mad! It had all started that evening after a hard day of selling food! Gus was relaxing in the food bus and getting ready to read his Bible before going to bed. He was watching the sunset and feeling relaxed and happy, then it happened! There was a knock at the door of the bus and there was his twin brother Russ! Gus hated his brother, he wanted to forget that he had a brother, and did not even want to think about his brother! In fact, Gus did not ever tell people that he even had a brother!
This brother was a thief! Several years ago, Gus had been saving all his money so that he could buy a fancy restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Gus had saved almost enough money to buy the restaurant when his brother stole all his money and most of their parent’s money too! Because this brother had stolen all the money, Gus could not buy a restaurant, and had to work hard to save enough money to buy the food bus. This brother had spent all that money traveling around the world and having a good time, and now this brother was knocking on the door of the food bus!
Russ looked terrible! He did not look like he had slept or eaten in days! His clothes were just rags, and he was crying! Russ begged Gus to forgive him! Russ said that he had finally given his life to God, and asked God to forgive him because Jesus had died on the cross to pay for all his sins! Russ knew he was forgiven by God, but his conscience would not let him rest! Russ knew that he had hurt his family badly, and he could not eat or sleep because his conscience tormented him so badly! Russ had already talked to their parents, and they had forgiven him, but now Russ was asking Gus to forgive him also!
Gus was so mad that he could hardly talk! He told Russ to go away and let him have some time to think! Russ turned to leave and said that he would come back in the morning.
That night Gus could not sleep! He was mad, he did not want to forgive his brother, he wanted to get revenge! Gus did not want to read his Bible, he did not want to pray, he just wanted to get even with his brother and hurt his brother! A few hours after midnight Gus was still angry, but a Bible verse that he had read a long time ago kept coming into his mind. Gus did not want to think about that verse, but the verse would not go away, so Gus looked it up.
Romans 12:19-20 says:
Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Gus thought about how Russ’ conscience would not let him eat or sleep, and he realized that he did not need to do anything to get even with Russ. God was dealing with Russ! Gus also realized that if he did not forgive Russ, that he would become an angry and bitter person himself! Gus knew he had to forgive Russ, but it was going to be a hard thing! Gus then remembered a parable that Jesus told. It is found in Luke 15:11-32
“A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.
He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!”
Gus did not want to be like the older brother in the parable, he knew he had to forgive Russ! The next morning Russ came early to the food bus, and Gus immediately told him that he forgave him. Gus opened his Bible and read the verses from Romans and the parable of the Lost Son to Russ and told Russ that he did not want to be like the older brother in the parable. It felt so good to get rid of all that hate and anger!
Gus asked Russ what he was going to do now, and Russ said that he believed that God wanted him to help people who had their homes destroyed by tornados, hurricanes, or wildfires. So, he was going to travel to any place where there was a natural disaster and help in any way that he could.
Gus had a great idea! All those people would need to eat, and they would need a lot of duct tape to patch things together! Gus had all that money that he had saved in the bank and now he knew what God wanted him to do with that money! He would go with Russ, and they would travel in the food bus and go anywhere where there had been natural disasters and help the people who had lost their homes! It was a wonderful plan, and the best part of it was that the brothers would be together and working together serving God by serving people!
Gus wrote in the Gus-Bus Eternal Journal:
A chapter is my life is finished! I have learned the importance of forgiving others just like God has forgiven me! Now Russ and I are reunited, and I will no longer sell food in southern California. Russ and I will take the food bus and all the money that I have saved, and we will go wherever there is a natural disaster and help with people there with food and duct tape! We will not take money from these people; we will give them what they need! This is going to be a great adventure serving God!