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| The Sounds of Joy |
| "Gospel Singing Southern Style" |
| Sounds of Joy Miracle Bus |
The Miracle Bus
by Bob Paxton
To a traveling gospel group, a bus ranks right up there with
microphones and amplifiers on the list of essential equipment.
So, in early November 2003, my brother-in-law Gary and I began
looking for a bus for our group The Sounds of Joy. Our budget
was quite limited compared to the cost of most buses, but we
prayed, “Lord, You know what we need and we’re trusting You to
supply it”.
We checked eBay every day and scoured the four corners of the
Internet. There was an amazingly abundant supply of buses out
there, but most were too expensive. The ones we could afford
were either hundreds, or in some cases, thousands of miles away.
Still, we kept looking knowing that His time isn’t necessarily our
time.
Then a bus appeared on eBay that was right down the road in
Orlando. It was an older model MC-9, but it had the “smooth side”
conversion kit installed that gave it the appearance of a much
newer model. This was really a beautiful bus.
A similar one had caught our eye a couple weeks earlier. That
one sold for just over $20,000—well out of our price range.
I followed the link in the listing to a page with more photos and
information. The seller had listed an asking price of $21,500.
We kept an eye on it anyway and were surprised to see that no
one was bidding on it. It was prominently displayed as a
“featured” auction. The opening bid was set at about half the
asking price, and there was no minimum reserve price below
which the seller would not sell. The bus would go to the highest
bidder regardless of what the bid actually was. Still, there were no
takers.
When the auction entered its final day with no bids, Gary and I
drove down to Orlando to look at it. The pictures hadn’t done it
justice. It was clean and well maintained. The engine fired right
up, didn’t smoke and ran strong. All the gauges worked. The
transmission shifted smoothly. It held plenty of air pressure. All
the bay doors opened and closed smoothly. The brakes didn’t
fade or pull. All the tires had good tread remaining. There was no
rust. It was exactly what we needed.
The auction was a seven day listing. It had been out there for a
solid week. With two hours to go, the hit counter showed that over
2700 people had looked at it, but there were STILL no bids. At
that point, I bid what I thought we could reasonably afford and left it
in God’s hands. Two hours later, we had our bus.
God had truly worked a miracle. He gave us that $21,500 bus for
$12,200 and He saved us the trouble and expense of going
hundreds of miles to get it.
The next day, I drew the deposit money out of the bank and Gary
drove it down to Orlando. The sellers were a father and son team
who had a small charter company. Not only were they Christians,
the father, a man named Skip, was a minister.
Gary and Skip talked at length about the goodness of God and the
blessings He had bestowed on both their individual lives and their
ministries.
It was then that we found out just how great a miracle God had
worked on our behalf. While Gary and Skip were sitting on the bus
talking, Skip got a call asking if the bus had sold.
The man, who could have outbid us easily, said he had every
intention of buying that bus but was waiting until the last minute to
enter a bid—a common practice with eBay auctions.
However, he had gotten absorbed in a TV program and lost track
of time. The auction ended before he could place his bid!
Praise His name. He makes a way where there is no way. The
Sounds of Joy will be eternally grateful for their “Miracle Bus”.
