When I was younger, I was terribly fond of CHAGE & ASKA. It was truly unfortunate what eventually became of ASKA, but together they gave the world an astonishing number of memorable songs.
In 1994, they released a piece entitled *Meguriai* (“Chance Encounter”). If memory serves, it was the first song in which they shifted from a keyboard-centred to a guitar-led composition style?though I might be mistaken.
There is a line in the second chorus that goes something like this:
> “Let’s watch those who missed the bus / See them off / As the two of us sway here together.”
It’s wonderfully evocative?almost painterly. The imagery rises effortlessly from the words. And CHAGE’s harmony, especially after the key change, is nothing short of sublime.
At the time of that release, I was in my final year at university. My job hunting was nearly over, though not in the way I’d hoped. While my friends boarded buses bound for “well-known companies” or “certain government ministries,” I was left behind?one of those who had “missed the bus,” watching enviously as theirs pulled away.
Then, as I stood there in dismay, another bus stopped in front of me. Its destination was marked *Heaven (via Happiness)*?clearly different from the others. The driver, scarred as though from some past accident, looked anything but ordinary. Ordinarily, I doubt I would have stepped aboard. Yet he said to me, “The fare’s free. But you might not get another chance to ride.”
That, to me, is what Christianity is: the bus to Heaven, driven by the Son of God, Jesus. Christians believe that Jesus, sent to this world by God the Father, took upon himself the sins of all humankind, and that only those who place their trust in Him are forgiven and welcomed into Heaven, where the Father dwells.
Of course, there is no way of proving this. Many believe there must be other buses bound for Heaven, and perhaps they’re right. We shall only know after we die. Yet since I boarded this bus, I have continually passed through its promised stop?*Happiness*?and my conviction that the driver will indeed take me safely to Heaven grows stronger by the day. Truly, it does.