Wait. Patiently.

Monday, a young man did not wait patiently.  Yes, it was five o’clock traffic, but it was moving smoothly just under the posted speed limit.  A “surface” road, heavily travelled, but multiple turning opportunities into shopping centers, eating establishments and gasoline stations on corners.  Three lanes, so through traffic could use the far left for a quicker flow.  It paralleled railroad tracks with left turn lanes at signals, leaving it virtually unimpeded.

Except when cars weren’t moving as quickly as one driver desired. A lane changer became evident to my grandson.  I couldn’t see it, as I was in the back seat (a little concerned about the amount of traffic in Fort Worth – out here in Paradise, four cars at a corner is considered high traffic flow.)

I felt it, though, as the GMC 3500 crew-cabbed long-bed brush-catcher caught the left rear quarter of my beloved PT Cruiser.  The car that had served me so very well for eight years and over 125,000 miles got it’s very first dent.

Oh, it had some rock-chips on its brow and a couple of very light door dings from inconsiderate parkers, but below the paint line, it was quality.  I had sold it months ago to my grandson for his wife to drive their children to and from school.  Perfect car for that.  They had allowed me to be with them when they traded it in for a larger SUV to handle road trips with their four children and a friend or two.  The transaction would have been finished this week.

Now, it won’t.

The impatient young man driving that one-ton pickup owned up to his error, pulled over into a parking lot, exchanged information, called his insurance company right then and accepted full responsibility for the incident.  He spent an hour beside the street, because he couldn’t wait for the car in front of him.

David told us twice in Psalms:

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. (Psalms 27:14 KJV)

Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. (Psalms 37:34 KJV)

Apparently, his son got the message:

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee. (Proverbs 20:22 KJV)

Jesus put it a little differently, but with the same meaning:

In your patience possess ye your souls. (Luke 21:19 KJV)

When we don’t see why we should wait, we hurry too fast and change our future.

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:24-25 KJV)

Wait. Patiently.