Does God laugh?

So i know that usually i try to post things that are serious and meaningful and hopefully a little bit wise...but i think that sometimes we need to just laugh. So on that note i will share a little story about my experience with the bus system here in brazil. my sweet little town in Georgia never gave me the experience of riding a bus along side my fellow americans. So when i got to brazil and found out that besides my own two feet this would be my main mode of travel...lets just say i was a bit nervous...it took me almost two months just to muster up the courage to venture out on what of these riding death traps....i call them this because i think the bus drivers have the idea that because they are the biggest object on the rode they are allowed to take up as many lanes as possible and honk loudly if anyone dares to get close to them...In the first city i lived in my friend helped me learn the bus numbers and routes....and i became an expert, mainly because i was forced to take one to school and back everyday....i digress...the buses there were always on time...give or take a few minutes. so when i came to manaus of course my first question was about the schedule of the buses....i was told that there is no schedule...you just go out to the bus stop and wait sometimes for a few minutes sometimes for a few hours...it is always good to have a book on hand, or your trusty kindle....In order to help this problem i try to be flexible about what bus i want...as long as i get to my destination....even if i have to go around my elbow to reach my butt...i still get there, and prayerfully in one piece...

There was one day recently that i decided to be adventurous and take a new bus...thinking that i had seen it at the mall previously....When i boarded the bus there were plenty of seats available...quite a rarity around here....so i found my seat and made myself comfortable...as comfortable as you can get in leather seats that stick to your legs because of the sweltering heat....looking out the window and trying to find the usual markers to tell me where i am in the city....SSo after riding for about an hour i noticed that I was beginning to see the same markers i had seen in the start of this trip...this is when it dawned on me that this bus was not going where i wanted it to....no big deal...i get lost a lot...even in foreign countries....i thank my mom for passing on this gene....

So i finally got to a familiar place and started the waiting process all over again...all the time dreaming of the quarter pounder from mcdonalds....yeah we have those here....My bus finally came and i found my seat....during the ride a nice gentle man came to sit next to me...we did not speak at first, i jsut kept watching my landmarks....then he handed me a piece of paper...of course all in portuguese...with these cute little drawings of indians at the top....the only would i could make out was natural...so of course i thought that he must be an environmentalist who wanted to inform me of the efforts brazil is making to conserve the amazon rainforest... SO i listened to him talk for a while only understanding every third word or so that he said....then it dawned on him that i was not brazilian and did not speak his language...so then he hands me another paper...this one has a calander on it, and as i turn it over i see a tiny picture at the top...bringing it close for inspection...much to my horror i realize it is a man and a woman standing next to a sign in their birthday suits...no fig leaves here folks....this is when in the movies a cartoon lightbulb would be above my head and start shinning with all it's might....he was telling me about a nudist colony that he was a member of and of course wanted me to join as well....the worst part about a bus full of people is that if you happened to choose the window seat...you can go no where fast...so i was forced to listen to this man continue to explain to me about where i can find other places to be free of clothes....At this point i couldn't tell if my face was red from the heat or from the embarrassment.....the mans finally left and of course i polietly thanked him when i really wanted to crumple the paper and throw it back in his face.... it does make for a great story though now....

So when i finally reached my destination and walked through the mall to see those glorious golden arches, I was a little out of breath and in desperate need of some food....so i preoceeded to order, which is always a fun, and when i say fun i mean horrible, test of my language....I tried very hard to say the word for quarter pounder with only cheese...and the lady answered back: you want only cheese and bread? i said no, cheese bread and meat...i like the quarter pounder because it is the only one that they put two pieces of cheese on...and they put one on the bottom and one on the top...so i may have a bit of a love affair with cheese...we all have our weaknesses....anyways...when my order finally came i looked at the tray and much to my dismay there layed a tiny sad little ordinary hamburger with only one slice of cheese....i thought about telling her she messed up but i was so famished by this point...because of my adventurous bus ride, i just brought it to the table and sat down....as i said my prayer i asked God to make me grateful that i got to eat this food at all, and that even though it wasn't what i wanted hopefully i will still be satisfied at the end....and that is exactly what happened...the burger was just the right size...it reminded me that sometimes i think i know what i want and i try so hard to get it but God really knows what i need and if i would only trust Him then He would love to give me just that....I know it seems a little funny to use a story about a cheeseburger to talk about God, but I think even God laughs sometimes....