Patience please

A couple of weeks ago we were in Fredericksburg with some friends from church.  We opted to stay for the church service but another couple left early.  After the service we left and the third couple stayed just a little longer. 

We headed out and as luck would have it, we got stuck in traffic around San Antonio.  I called our friends already on the road and asked if they had encountered the traffic.  She explained that they took another route and were not stuck in traffic.

I took note of the time and it was 12:32!  I don't know why I looked at the clock but I did.  It seemed that traffic was just not moving.  We called our friends behind us and warned them.  They said they had also taken the other route.  By now I was really upset.  Why did we take this route? 

When I say traffic was not moving I mean exactly that.  It was "inching" up the road and after I had my say, I looked at the clock again....1:00!  We had been in almost the same spot for almost 30 minutes.  I just didn't understand why.    I gave up.  I became engaged in something on my ipad and just gave up. 

When we finally began moving, we were forced into the service road and to a red light.  Once we got past the light we were on our way.  I looked at the clock again and it was exactly 1:32!  Once again I asked the question "why?"  Our friends had both missed this mess and yet we were stuck there and wasted an hour of drive time. 

I have to believe that my friends did not need a lesson in patience.  For some reason, I was made to endure this "detour" and I dont mind telling you....my patience was tested.  I don't know why the delay but I can tell you this, when I got lost in my ipad, I was really talking to God and asking Him if there was a lesson for me in this delay.  I asked Him to forgive me and thanked Him for safety during the drive.  It gave me an opportunity to re-evaluate my attitude and my selfishness of time. 

I believe that when I learned that lesson, God allowed the traffic to move and just to prove it, it was exactly one hour to the minute!  Man couldn't have been that precise to the very minute.

God will use whatever He has to in order to get our attention.  I needed the time to reflect on His goodness and not the situation.  As one of God's children, my attitude should have reflected more of Him and less of me.  To that I say to God "patience please."


Therefore, as God's chosen people, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Colossians 3:12