Hello,
As I have written before, my commute to my church is a 23
mile ride along a squiggly road over the ridge where there is not even one inch
where passing is allowed. It takes
me about a half hour to travel, and generally behind the wheel of my Mini
Cooper the ride is fun and the scenery is beautiful.
Once in a while I find myself caught behind someone who is in no hurry and
is captivated by the scenery extending the time of my journey 10 minutes or
so. This past week, though, it was
not a tree gazer that slowed my pace and it wasn’t just 10 minutes that was
added to my commute.
As I started my way over the ridge, I soon came up upon an
appliance service truck that was travelling at a speed that made me think he
was looking for an address. “Be
patient,” I told myself. Then
around one of the bends, we came upon warning signs telling us of a work area
where a flagger was managing the traffic for the one lane road that was
created. Sure enough, the signs
told the truth, and I found myself sitting behind my appliance truck friend at
a site where the electric company was trimming trees away from its lines. “Be patient,” I told myself as I waited
permission from the flagger to pass.
Still creeping behind the service truck around a couple of bends, again
we were greeted by a work zone sign, and again I found myself awaiting
permission to pass tree trimmers.
“Be patient,” I told myself.
When the flagger flipped the sign from “stop” to “slow” we moved past
the trimmers, but this time it seems that my appliance friend deemed to take
the flagger’s word literally for now he was setting our pace at 15-20 miles an
hours (in a 45 mile an hour zone).
“Be patient,” I told myself
as I assumed he was nearing his stop.
Riding my brakes down the slope, I painfully felt my brake pads eroding
away, and when my appliance buddy took the fork in the road at the bottom of
the hill, erasing my assumption that he was looking for an address, I felt the
steam begin to accumulate in my ears.
“Be patient, “ I told myself.
Having lost my lumbering escort, I took a deep breath to calm down, and set off to finish the last
third of my commute. But wouldn’t
you know it, after a couple of more bends….there it was again…a orange work
zone sign…..more tree trimmers!
“Be patient,” I told
myself. Given my luck thus far, I
guess that I should not have been surprised that within a mile of my third tree
trimmers, I found myself behind a school bus making numerous stops gathering in
the children who made their way onto the bus with the speed of a tree sloth. “Be patient,” I told myself. And then….as if someone was tracking
me….every time I came upon a stop light, it turned red….5 of them. “Be patient,” I told myself. And when I finally arrived at work, I found the access to
the parking lot blocked by a parent dropping their child off at our preschool
(it’s where the parents are supposed to drop their kids off….). “Be patient,” I told myself.
By the time that I parked my car, my half hour commute had
doubled in time. As I walked into
my office, a strange tune popped into my mind…a song from my youth. “Slow down, you move too fast. You gotta make the morning last. Just kickin’ down the cobblestone. Lookin’ for love and ….. feelin’ Groovy.” Although Simon and Garfunkel sang it…..maybe
it was a word from God that I needed to hear.
“Lord, soothe my soul with patience….grant me “grooviness.”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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