Powerful Stuff

I’m excited to share with you that we are the proud owners of a 1988 Silver Eagle Bus! 

The way in which the bus came to us is actually an incredible story. We decided that we would start to travel again, but this time do things a little differently We agreed that a bus (think Greyhound or Trailways) was the only vehicle that really made sense for us for a myriad of reasons and we began our search. We figured out how much money we had to spend, which was at the very bottom range of what was available, and not even with much converting done. 

There was one bus that kept popping up in ads, but I ignored it as it was fully converted, had a custom paint job, as well as solar panels and an awning. Gary finally convinced me just to get a price on it, and I was blown away that it was only slightly above our top dollar amount. The seller and I talked all week, he understood that we were a little short and were working on getting the extra money, and also working out how we would travel to see/purchase the bus (it was a solid 16-18 hours from where we are). After talking all week we got to the point that we needed to wait on Monday to hear about several things. The bus sold on Sunday. 

I had faith that it must not be our bus, and that our bus was out there somewhere, but losing that bus still stung. The next day I found a bus, not quite so amazing, but still really great and completely out of our price range. The seller did say that he was open to a partial trade and was willing to talk, so I decided to call him and explain about the super special bus and how we only had x amount of dollars. He told me what his bottom line was, how much he had into the bus, and asked if we were a missionary family. I told him that we were not, and for some reason that really bothered me, having to say no. I thanked him for his time and said goodbye.

Later that day the seller called me back to tell me that he had been praying about it and the Lord laid it upon his heart that he should sell me the bus for the money we had!!! I was thrilled, but for whatever reason, I hesitated. A very good friend who knew about the loss of the super special bus had sent me a video by Sean Hayes entitled Powerful Stuff to remind me that the Universe is so incredibly powerful and that if we stayed faithful our bus would come to us. She was one of the friends that I shared the pictures and the advertising with and she immediately noticed the musical staff on the side of the bus. Powerful Stuff. The other friend read me back the ad and berated me for not going to get the bus that minute, because it was clearly valued for far more than he was willing to sell it to us for. I took a deep breath, called the seller and told him we were coming to see the bus.

The morning of our trip, I called him to let him know that we were on our way. He shared with me that there was a gentleman from Texas who wanted the bus badly and planned to fly in the next morning if we didn’t take it, and another who hoped to beat us there that day. He told them both that I had first dibs on the bus, and that he had been doing more praying and if we liked the bus we could talk more about what he could do when we arrived.

I went right into panic mode. In my mind he was going to up his price, he clearly had more interest in the bus and people who could probably pay him closer to what it is worth. (side note: I know a woman was needing a home for one of her children and after working with a family for some time they told her that they had been praying and God told them to charge her three times what they had originally agreed would be fair.)

As I drove I contemplated calling  him back and reminding him that we had limited funds, and zero ability to take on debt, but instead I took deep breaths and believed that everything was exactly as it was supposed to be.

When we arrived at our meeting place, Gary jumped into the bus to ride back to the sellers home, and I rode behind checking out the lights and lack of smoke (and incredible horsepower!).

When I got into the bus I found that it wasn’t as nice inside as I had imagined. It needed a lot cosmetically, but the layout was very workable. I was trying to get a feel from Gary, and I was feeling very positive vibes. Then, out of the blue the seller tells me that the Lord told him to give the bus to us for even LESS than we agreed upon! I found out later that he had already told this to Gary on the ride, which must be why he was looking past the cosmetic stuff!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Powerful Stuff, Indeed! The seller and his family are just genuine super nice people, and once they found out that we wanted the bus started throwing in all kinds of extra pieces and parts for us. He even said he was going to replace the batteries before we took it home because he’d had to jump start it that morning and he didn’t want us to have any trouble, and INSISTED that I call him the minute we arrived safely at home so they didn’t need to worry about us, even if it was 2 am!

Needless to say we are incredibly excited to make this bus home. I love it already and feel incredibly grateful not only that it came to us, but that it came to us in such an amazing, incredibly powerful way. ☼