Missing the bus

Yesterday was a frustrating day.
When I noticed the sky clearing I decided to take a chance, hop on a bus and go see someone about a couple of things.
Getting there was no problem. Trying to catch a bus coming back is what gave me grief. Initially, I had no time agenda although I had hoped to use the time allotment on my stub. No such luck coming back. My ripping up of my timed out ticket stub conveyed my obvious displeasure and annoyance.
And not only that, I was going to be late. This time around I needed to be somewhere by a specific time.
After lunch and when trying to catch another bus somewhere else, something suddenly dawned on me.
I look at the group of people standing around me and take note that they along with myself constantly scan the road in the direction our bus would, should come.
During my previous wait I checked my watch frequently counting down the minutes with a sinking feeling knowing that my ticket was about to expire and I would have to fork over additional money.
"Where was that bus", I stewed, sighed and lamented.

This made me think about a passage in Luke that is part of our study on Wednesday evenings.
While growing up and attending church, I always heard talk about "the Lord's coming" and I knew in part what it meant for myself and anyone else that called themselves Christian. As a child I probably didn't give it a whole lot of serious thought and as a teenager along with other teenagers the prevalent thought was, "don't come before I have a chance to be married". Silly but true.
And, life has a way of creeping up on you along with the daily cares, the evening news reports and maybe a marriage gone bad when all of a sudden you might find yourself saying, "come quickly Lord."
I am not one of those people.
And maybe I should be, like the people standing at the bus stop staring in the direction of the approaching bus but I am reminded of another important step involved in the waiting.
"Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation"
As important as it is to wait with expectation, the time is not meant to be spent hanging onto our ticket and just standing, staring, hoping.
What I mean is that I have an opportunity to keep coming to the judge with my petitions and prayers on behalf of others that are not waiting but walking in another direction.
I'm sure that I do not have to spend too much time thinking about someone around me whom I do not want to "miss the bus" so to speak.
God's patience means salvation.
And when I am tempted to pass off his coming as a fast ticket out of here, I am reminded that God's timing is impeccable and he will bring about the justice people cry out for and swiftly but in the meantime I do not think we are meant to be just standing around.