Convicted

It was a night at Sonic with some friends. We'd just left the Junior/Senior banquet and were searching for ice cream. So there we are... a group of about six sitting on the benches outside of Sonic with our floats, tots, and shakes... dressed to kill.

As always, someone drives into the parking lot going way too fast when they scrape the bottom of their car on the speed bump. We all laughed. (1) Because it was funny, and (2) I've done it before. As the car came around the drive through, I noticed that a piece of the weather stripping under the car had been pried loose under the front bumper. As I took a closer look, I noticed that it was actually dragging on the road. I asked a friend, "Do you think I should tell them?" After all, (not that I look down on women drivers) but it was a car full of girls. And, in my experience, most girls aren't car literate (as a matter of fact most guys only act like they are). And, with as loud as I know a group of girls can get... I was wondering if they would even hear the scrapping of the plastic before it came loose and hit another car or got caught in their tire.

As this car of girls is sitting at a red light in Clemson, I am wondering, "Should I run into the intersection to tell these girls (who will probably laugh at me.. or even mace me) that they have a four foot piece of plastic dragging under their car?" Comments began being made by my friends "They'll be fine", "It's no big deal", and I began to reason that they were right. But one comment stood out:

"If God is telling you to tell them, then you better do it. Otherwise, you'll think about it all night because you ignored it."

That's all it took. I ran across the parking lot, signaled them to roll down their window, the light turned green, I only had a moment, but I got it out "You've knocked a piece loose on the bottom of your car!!" They looked at me like I was crazy. After all, I was in the middle of a street, holding up traffic on a Friday night in Clemson, and to top it all off... I'm wearing a suit at the Sonic drive-in.

It doesn't matter how silly I looked or felt. I slept great that night. I knew that even though it was something small, I had done what God expected me to do. I mean, if I had knocked a part loose on my car I would hope that someone would tell me. I only did what I would expect of someone else, but that's what we're suppose to do. There are times when I have ignored that voice that says "Go," and I have wrestled with God for that decision for sleepless, agonizing hours of asking "What if?"

Don't ignore God. When we speak to Him, He listens. Now it's our turn. Listen. Respond.

What I've Done

Watch the video and think about the words.

"Let mercy come and wash away all I've done."

Waiting

The theme of this summer has been very clear to me: waiting. I've been waiting on dates for activities. I've been waiting for Kristie to come back. I've been waiting for payday. I had to wait at the drive through today for nearly 30 minutes. As a matter of fact, I am waiting on a phone call and numerous e-mails right now. It seems that there are a lot of things in life that I have to wait for in order to get the result I desire. And there are times that the result we want never comes. So what is worth waiting for?

I've noticed that many people seem to want things immediately. I've done it today. If I could have found a way to get out of that drive through today I would have done it. The food might have been fast, but the line certainly was not. Was it really worth waiting for? Not really. I mean, I spent more in gas trying to run the air than I did on the value menu.

I did a little experiment earlier this week. I've taken different roads to the church in order to see which route is faster. To be accurate, I made sure to do exactly the spend limit each time. You know what? It really doesn't matter that much. I caught every light green on 123 the other day, and then on the shorter and "faster" route I ended up behind a pickup that did 5-10 under the whole trip. I've found out that sometimes it doesn't matter if your car can do 0-60 faster than road-runner, sometimes you just have to wait. I can't force things to come faster, sometimes I just have to wait.

I'm waiting for so many things. I'm finding out that in order to get good results I have to do two things. One, I have to give it my all. I can't let up, and I have to follow through. Two, I have to wait. Sometimes this means that I'll be inconvienced, but it's the nature of life. In this fast paced life, the good things come with time. There are things that I have waited a long time for, and those things are slowly coming together.