Retired bus driver, Johnny Barnes, courageously changed the island of Bermuda with three words: “I Love You.”

<p>Retired bus driver, Johnny Barnes, courageously changed the island of Bermuda with three words: “I Love You.”</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written Canada

Michael Lemon

René Lemon

Do You Have Enough Courage to Love?

So imagine we take a blank white canvas and we dip it into a bathtub filled with red paint.

And then we leave it there to soak for 2 weeks.

Do you think that any of the original plain white canvas will be showing through?

Every fiber and microfiber of the canvas is soaked and saturated in red paint.

No, I don't mean that you are soaked and saturated in red paint.

What I mean is, what if you were soaked and saturated in the love of Jesus.

What if every fiber and microfiber of your being were immersed in the goodness of Christ?

I would be truthful, kind, compassionate, forgiving, merciful, and I would live at peace with all people.

Galatians 3.27 says that those who have been baptized or soaked and saturated in Jesus have put on Jesus so that you are now living a Jesus-like life.

In Galatians 2.20, Paul says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

And in 1 Corinthians he uses this phrase, in Christ Jesus our Lord I die daily.

We want to encourage you to take the plunge.

Every day become soaked and saturated in the love of Jesus.

And when others look at you, they will see Jesus.

In a moment, we are going to introduce you to an amazing person who was so soaked and saturated in the love of Jesus that He He was described as quite simply the most popular and friendliest man in Bermuda.

His name was Johnny Barnes, and he was soaked and saturated in the love of Jesus.

Johnny Barnes worked on the Bermuda Railroad as an electrician until the railroad closed in 1948.

And then, at the age of 25, Johnny became a bus driver.

And he was a very friendly man, fond of waving to the people while driving his bus.

He would even sit and wave to people on his breaks or when continuing to work.

1 day a lady by the name of Rosemary Tyrell, she remembers that when she was little, Johnny used to always wave and cheer to all the children and make them feel like they were royalty.

In 1986, after 38 years of working as a bus driver, Johnny retired at the age of 63.

But Johnny wasn't the kind of man who could retire.

He was in the habit of getting up every morning, really early, 2am, eating his breakfast, reading his Bible, and praying for 2 hours.

And 1 morning, around 3 a.m., Johnny remembers that he was praying to the Lord and asking him, what do you want me to do now?

I'm retired, and I can't just sit around all day.

I have to tell them about your love, Lord.

I am just this little Johnny Barnes, he said.

Lord, what do you want me to do now?" Johnny says the Lord impressed him to go stand on the street corner and tell the people passing the following 3 words, I love you.

So Johnny was obedient and he went to the corner of Crow Lane, where the roundabout was the busiest intersection in Bermuda, and he started waving to the people at 3.45 in the morning.

It was still dark out when he started, But that didn't stop Johnny.

He stood there and waved at everyone passing into Hamilton on their way to work until 10 a.m.

And the next morning, he woke up at 2 a.m.

He ate his breakfast, he opened up his Bible, He prayed to the Lord for guidance and he felt impressed to do the very same thing.

He made it to the corner at Crow Lane by 345 a.m.

And he started waving to the people and telling them, God loves you.

From Monday to Friday, he could be found waving to the people for 6 hours and 15 minutes, saying, God loves you.

So 1 day, the director of transportation for Bermuda, his name was Herman Basden, he received a message from 1 of his supervisors saying Mr.

Barnes is waving to the traffic at Crow Lane.

So The director of transportation for Bermuda asked if Mr Barnes could be seen to him.

And when Johnny Barnes came, he asked him why he was waving at the traffic and saying, I love you.

And Johnny said, Mr Basden, this is something that God has asked me to do.

Baston answered, Well, who am I to question that?

And Johnny was free to keep waving at the people.

And Johnny Barnes continued day after day, week after week, and year after year, waving and blowing kisses to the people and saying, I love you, I love you, I love you.

1 day, after more than 15 years of waving on the street corner, Johnny failed to show up at his regular spot at Crow Lane.

And all over the island of Bermuda, phones were calling in to the police station and the local radio station to find out what had happened to Johnny Barnes.

Well, it turned out that Johnny was in the hospital.

And soon after that, he reappeared in his usual spot.

But this time off that Johnny had got the people to worrying.

What would happen if Johnny wasn't there for the drive to work in the morning?

The answer was to hire a local sculptor to create a large-sized bronze statue of Johnny Barnes, which they did, spending over $70, 000 to honor a man who was still alive.

This got me to thinking, and here's a personal question.

What if I didn't turn up at work 1 morning?

Would people call into the radio stations or the police station to find out what had happened to me?

Would they raise $70, 000 to create a life-size statue of you?

I really don't think that anyone would ever do that for me.

Johnny wasn't doing it to attract attention to himself.

It was about the message of love, the message of God's love.

Johnny said, the good Lord and I, We are just trying to make people happy.

So let's take a look at the man himself, Johnny Barnes, and what the people of Bermuda thought about him.

He's the person that loves people and he cares about everybody and he's nice.

And all day he likes to do this, blow kisses and say hi to people.

We can use it to God's name unenglor or we can use it to just the opposite way.

He's not paid, he's not asked to do it, he does it for free.

He stands out there in the wind and the rain and the sun and everything.

It's about 4 hours but that's quite a long time just standing on a roundabout and in the heat it can get quite hot even in the morning.

Do You Have Enough Courage to Love?

Transcript

Description

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Talking to Strangers

02 Talking to Strangers

52m

How Should We Live?

1h 5m

Robert Rice Weekend

Word Warfare

58m

Prophets: The Issue that Divides

Prophets: The Issue That Divides, Part 6

44m

Prayer by Gem Castor

Relentless Pursuit

53m

Morning Devotional: It's War Time

It’s Wartime - Part 8: Marching Orders

53m

ECYC 2011 Plenary Meetings

Outreach Charge

20m

Right Thinking: How to be Happy and Healthy in a World of Depression and Sickness

Right Thinking: How to be Happy and Healthy in a World of Depression and Sickness - Part 3

1h 3m

Work For The Night Is Coming

1h 8m

Evangelism by Dee Casper

02 The Greatest Commission

48m

ASI Spring Chapter Conference - Friday Afternoon

1h 57m

Learn and Share

02 - How Literally Anyone Can Share Their Faith

45m

Sound Doctrine