PATIENCE ON TRIAL

Yesterday I spent 30 minutes listening to the same music over and over again, and it only played a few bars, just repeated. I did not choose the music. It was coming from my phone as I waited for someone at my former phone company’s internet service to answer my call. I never was able to get through and several tries got me no where. I was responding to a bill that charged me even though I had canceled my phone service on January 5th. I tried in vain to reach the company by internet but faced a maze of pre-ordered questions, none of which matched my query and led me down a path to nothing. Finally I enclosed a letter with my bill and hope that someone “living” will actually read it and respond.

As I waited, tapping my proverbial foot in impatience, I weighed the nature of my request and that of the company’s claim to business fame. First of all, they pride themselves on automatic and wireless dial-up, even though you get “automatically” no contact with people, and I do understand high volume of contacts with so many in my plight. They’ve high-speed DSL, also a time saver, though high speed contact they’re not! Then their parent company has all kinds of “state of the art” communications, i.e., unlimited long distance, caller ID, conference calling, etc., available if you are willing to pay for it. All great, but I’m still on hold, with my foot creating a permanent depression in the carpet.

Then, revelation strikes like a loud silence! My patience is getting a much needed trial as I reflect upon what my Lord would have me consider as a lesson in my relationship with Him, and how I should reflect it practically with all others. As it often is, it is not that which I always want to consider in the midst of such a situation of inconvenience, but in such times there is no way to “disconnect”, so I let Him speak to my heart and mind. Here’s a few of the thoughts that I considered:

In my relationship/connection with God there is no busy signal nor “holds of repeated music” while other customers are dealt with. With Him I am ever “on-line” with total access to speak to the real “Person” about my needs. Not even a disconnect when I feel like hanging up. And there are no pre-recorded multiple choices to try to match my specific need. He knows already my heart and mind before I dial His number and though it may not be the answer I like at the moment, it is always the best one for me. I have unlimited “long distance” calling available, and yet it is all very local with my own personal area code. WOW! And when I move to a different location, no disconnects and reconnects are necessary, not even a change of address form is needed. And if all of this is not enough, the “service” was paid for 2000 years ago, when the first telephone pole was set into the ground on a hill called Golgotha.

Now that I consider it, the LINEMAN that “climbed” that pole was the only ONE Who ever had a disconnect with the “central office”. And HE had it so I never, ever, would! (Mark 15:34 “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” )

So, thanks, AT & T, for my trial of patience.

Be encouraged, my friends, in your trials of patience. Consider how much we’ve all tried the patience of God!