The sweat was dripping down my neck. My shirt was sticking tightly to every spot where perspiration forms, as if I were running a 5K race on a humid day. But the weather was perfect. It was the most beautiful day in weeks.
I glanced down at the temperature gauge and watched it inch up. The backed up commute was crawling in the construction zone and my car was on the verge of over heating a second time. I turned the heat up to its highest notch, blasting my face with steam – A facial I hadn’t requested.
Pockets of sweat were gathering behind my knees and dripping down my legs. My eyes were fixed on the gauge warning me that my engine would soon blow. I had little choice but to look for a place to pull over. But then I saw it. The police were pulling people over and dishing out tickets like free popcorn.
Were they not cognoscente of the traffic delays they were causing? Did they forget they were hired to serve, honor and protect? Were rumors true about cops having a quota in order to raise the coffers for the indebted city I was passing by?
My anger was rising faster than the temperature gauge that warned me of the inevitable unless I pulled over. I turned off the highway and into an empty factory parking lot, where workers had long since left to avoid traffic. For a moment I coveted their 4:00 a.m. start time that circumvented the daily congestion I faced.
I parked the car and turned off the engine. My anger dropped faster than the gauge. I was resetting my expectations and understood my clunker was doing the best it could given the hard driving conditions it faced. The two and a half hour commute home was more than ole Bessy could handle. It was no wonder some chose to leave work around 7:00 p.m., making it home within an hour.
As the gentle breeze blew through my open windows and the heat died down in my car, I reflected on the verses in Hebrews that talks about God doing away with what can be shaken, so that only what cannot be shaken remains. It was a learning moment. A time to reflect on all the things I was thankful for like my new job.
In the past, I would have fixated my focus on the traffic; rather than turn my thoughts to how thankful I was to have a job among wonderful people. Oh, I’m not talking about denial; clearly I had car problems to face and long delays causing me to choose between peace and anger. But, neither problem consumed me. I was able to put my eyes on God’s goodness. I was thankful.
It dawned on me. The thankful part of me had endured – A part of me that would never be shaken. And, it was scriptural.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe…”
Hebrews 12:28 (NIV)
So there I was off the beaten path and sitting in an empty factory parking lot being thankful to God for the blessings of a new job. Hope rose up within me and I looked forward to the day when God would bless me with a new car. Or, continue to show me the growth He had developed within me using ole Bessy a few more times.
I turned the ignition and headed home using the back roads and enjoying the second hour of my peaceful commute. I even got home and turned off the car just before the temperature gauge topped out. It had been a good day.
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