I need more patience. I sometimes think I am. I would at least like to think I am. For Pete's sake (whatever the heck that means), I'm the father of 3. Shouldn't I have somewhat of a grip on patience? For the love of humanity, I'm a minister...shouldn't I have more restraint? I THOUGHT I did. I measured myself pretty high on the scale. (That should have been my first sign...I was measuring myself).
All over a drivers license. My wife's license at that. I officially am bitter with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. They caused me heartache this week. They gave me heartburn this week. They made me think negative thoughts. They caused me to say not nice things. They made me consider Crack a viable option. They and my new Direct TV caused me lack of sleep. They. They. They.
It was one of those times when a good sermon on, "Jeff, everything is in God's time. The Lord has His purpose in all of this. All things will work together for good..." Woulda been nice. Woulda been helpful. Woulda been timely. But instead, FedEx was silent. Empty promises and empty packages. That was my week.
Echo is headed out of town on a much needed vacation. She's an unbelievable wife and mother. Trust me when I say, I don't deserve her. She's the definition of Grace in my life. She needs her D.L. in order to make it past airport security. This is her pass to get a week away from me and three amigos. But the fact is, folks in Austin were making her promises and then not coming through on them. She's getting stressed and so am I.
"Oh, Mrs. Manning, your D.L. was made on July 1st. We don't know why it hasn't been sent out. We will reissue it but can't guarantee it will make it to your home by your needed time unless we send it to you FedEx. Your bill. We will have the reissued license in hand on Tuesday and have it to you by Wednesday"
O.K. We will do it. Steep price to pay, but hey, she wants to go and I think she needs the R & R.
Wednesday comes. Noon. Doorbell. FedEx package under door. We are jubilant until we open the package. Nothing but a welcome letter for opening a new account. Honestly, I'm so glad I wasn't preaching that night, because the love of Jesus was not in my heart. I call Fed Ex and find out that NO PACKAGE IS HEADED TO MY HOUSE. The order never placed.
More phone calls are made. More cell minutes burnt while we sit on the eternal hold of the Texas DMV. They assure us they will redo the same process. We doubt. "It will be there by Friday Mrs. Manning." Echo now knows the folks by first name basis. We get tracking numbers. She calls more to make sure they have her D.L. in hand and have placed it in an overnight Fed Ex package. When I leave the church on Thursday around 6:00 p.m., still no news from Fed Ex, just promises from DMV that the mission had been accomplished. We make plans to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to drive to Austin to raise SHEOL/HADES/GEHENNA on Friday. Patience is not my virtue. It was not a Fruit of the Spirit I was growing well on my tree.
Luckily, the tracing number appeared on my Mac at 8:00 p.m. and my worries began to wane. Only thing that could go wrong now was for Tom Hanks to land in Lake Lavon with our letter. Luckily, her D.L. arrived around noon on Friday. She's going on that trip. When she passes through security, it will be through much hardship and testing of composure. When she arrives in the Paradise of the Caribbean, it will be through much testing of patience.
I learned ANOTHER area of my life that I need VAST improvement. Trials, troubles, and tribulations. Broken commitments. Empty envelopes. Arguments, I mean tense discussions. Wasted funds. Lost time. Unwarranted stress. All those things from the 2nd paragraph. The trip to Paradise will be full of these. I'll just have to be patient to get there and know that "All things work"....never mind. :)
Sorry for the Length Wilson,
jEFF m
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