Inconvenience Exposes Impatience

     Last week I shared my account with a car that wouldn’t start. It turned out to be a fuel pump gone bad. Yesterday, I picked up the vehicle and got started on my routine. Everything seemed to be going quite well… Then I learned of an incoming storm. Meteorologists were calling for a thick layer of ice to develop overnight, followed by an even larger system with more snow, freezing rain and ice. Immediately I began feeling the resistance rise within me. “Oh no!” I thought to myself, “I won’t allow this storm to interrupt my routine for tomorrow morning. I will continue with my plans down to the minute!” 
     Waking up the next morning, I peered out the bedroom window to find a large amount of ice had fallen. I dressed in warm clothing, grabbed a rubber mallet from the garage and commenced beating a thick layer of ice off the door latch and surrounding area. I then started the car to warm it up. As I impatiently assessed the amount of ice on the car, I decided to speed up the process by gently tapping the ice on the windshield. After several “gentle” smacks with the 3 pound rubber mallet, I returned into the house.
     After 20 minutes or so, I went back outside to the car, wiping off the chunks of ice from the windshield. “What did I just do!?” I remarked to myself in utter horror. Removal of the ice uncovered a web of spider cracks throughout the windshield! Shocked, I instantly realized a huge expense had just been created through my own stupidity. No, my impatience. You see, the crucible of inconvenience had not completed its work. One of several impurities to be addressed is self-focused impatience. In the circumstantial environment of inconvenience, my impatience found expression through a rubber mallet. Staring in disbelief at the windshield left me no option but to acknowledge the existence of, and damage caused by, stubborn impatience. The financial element hurts, to be sure. But the emotional and spiritual cost is equally significant.
     As I discover what it means to be a Christ-follower, it clearly suggests character development. One cannot determine to seek Christ-likeness without going through the process designed to make them Christ-like. Intellectually apprehending the Christian worldview is good and important, it nonetheless fails to address the whole problem of sin and separation from God. The nature of sin communicates itself through attitudes and behavior, an expression of character. Consequently, the growth process of becoming Christ-like centers in regeneration. Regeneration speaks to something much more fundamental than cognitive restructuring or moral improvement. It speaks of the old passing away, to be replaced by the new. It speaks of rebirth.
     Okay, now for the windshield. As I sit here and write, it becomes clear that I am feeling deeply frustrated, regretting my careless and impatient behaviors. Yet I also notice a need to reduce the stress caused by seeing the ruined windshield. So, what should I do? Praying, of course is the first thought. Replacing the windshield quickly follows. But what is God wanting me to understand? Could he be teaching the art of patiently allowing circumstances beyond my control to simply be? Could he be showing me that my stubborn refusal to allow routine to be temporarily altered causes more problems than the circumstances themselves?
     My relationship with God, with my wife and family, and myself are all immediately affected by my stubborn attitude. I fall into a routine and hold to it with annoying tenacity. God can’t freely use me if I live within a rut. He can only use a vessel willing to be used whatever may come. Inconvenience only becomes a problem when I appraise my routine more important than God’s direction… Now, to learn this for real!