The Parable of the Wrong Bus

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, how do you celebrate Columbus Day?”

Josh spoke thus:

A traveller had gotten on the wrong bus.  

Stepping out of the train station, the traveller had seen the No. 26 bus and rushed to jump on board before the bus pulled away.

The No. 26 bus was the correct bus.  The No. 26 bus passed within a city block of the traveller’s home.  However, the No. 26 bus traveling southbound was not the correct bus.  The traveller lived north of the train station.

“I’m going the wrong way,” the traveller told the traveller’s spouse by text, “I’ll be late home.”

“Get off the bus,” the traveller’s spouse texted back, “Cross the street and get on the northbound bus.”

“I’ll do that,” the traveller texted, but the traveller did not do that.  The traveller stayed on the southbound bus.

The traveller opened an app that told the traveller where the traveller was.  The app did not show the traveller a map.  The traveller did not indicate the street upon which the traveller was traveling.  The app told the traveller the traveller’s latitude and longitude.

“Where are you?” the traveller’s spouse texted the traveller.  The traveller replied with the traveller’s latitude and longitude.

“Where is that?” the traveller’s spouse texted.  The traveller texted that the traveller did not know.

The traveller’s spouse texted the latitude and longitude of the traveller’s home.

The traveller recognized a restaurant that the bus passed.  The traveller descended from the bus and walked into the restaurant.  The traveller texted the restaurant’s specials of the day to the traveller’s spouse.

The traveller’s spouse texted a latitude and longitude to the traveller.  The traveller replied that the traveller’s wife was cold.

The traveller texted the first five items on the wine list to the traveller’s spouse.

The traveller’s spouse texted the traveller a new set of coordinates.  The traveller texted that the traveller’s spouse was warmer.

A number of minutes later, the traveller’s spouse texted a third set of coordinates.  The traveller texted that the traveller’s spouse was now very warm.

The traveller’s spouse texted that the third set of coordinates were the traveller’s spouse’s coordinates.

When the traveller’s spouse walked into the restaurant, dinner had been ordered and prepared, the waiter had just opened the bottle of wine and the traveller had tasted the wine.  The waiter poured out two glasses.

“To the wrong bus,” the traveller said, raising a toast.

“To the right bus,” the traveller’s spouse returned.