I Wanted To Do What Was Right, But Ended Up Doing Wrong

Early this morning I went to the Buick dealership to have new winter tires put on my Encore. The appointment was for 8:30 in the morning. I was told the job could possibly take up to two hours, but since I was remaining there to wait, the service manager said he would put a rush on it. I then walked up several flights of stairs to the designated lounge room to wait. However, the temperature in the room was freezing (even with my coat on). As a result, I couldn't be comfortable enough to relax. I was shivering too much. Not only that, both the television and computer in the room were not working, so there wasn't any entertainment to keep my mind off the cold. To make matters worse, I had forgotten my cellphone at home. I was cold, bored, and hoped desperately for another human soul to enter the room as I tried to keep my sanity.

After one hour passed by, I impatiently went downstairs in hope to see a miracle. Nope, it wasn't to be. I retreated back upstairs to the arctic cold and tried to be more patient. After looking at the clock every five minutes for another hour, two hours had finally passed. With relief that my torture had ended and I survived, I went back downstairs to retrieve my vehicle. To my dismay, my vehicle still sat there with no tireman any where near it. Annoyed, I thought about saying something to the service manager, but decided to be more patient when I saw how busy they were. I then went upstairs again to wait another hour, proud of what a good Christian I was for being so patient and not complaining. (I don't think the Lord liked my haughtiness because things got worse---a lot worse).

"One, two, three, but not four."

After three hours and still no work done, I began fighting with this good Christian nature of mine. I approached the service manager calmly, but inwardly I felt nothing but calm. It felt like a storm brewing inside me. I reminded him as kindly as I could how long I had been waiting and asked why no one had started on my vehicle. In all honesty, I  really wanted to throw something at him---that is until I saw the look of horror on his face when he realized his mistake. He scrambled through some papers, and when he retrieved my invoice, I noticed his hands began to shake as he read it. He then spoke nervously to me, averting his eyes, as he tried to come up with some excuse. Instantly, the storm inside me died down and I began to feel sorry for him. I should have approached him sooner to remind him, but I was too busy trying to be good.

And if things weren't bad enough for him already, it got worse. A half of an hour later, I was told by the service manager, now with the look of death on his face, that the tire man in a hurry accidentally ruined beyond repair one of my tires. I wasn't upset. At this point, I was no longer thinking about myself. I was just worried about him.

I will now be seeing this service manager again next week. I tried to calm his nerves afterwards by chatting with him about other things, letting him know I am fine with all of this.

The Lord had taught me a valuable lesson:  Even though I wanted to do what was right, I ended up doing what was wrong. I was trying to be patient to look good, when I should have reminded the service manager so he wouldn't look bad.

"I have discovered this principle of life--

that when I want to do what is right,

I inevitably do what is wrong."

Romans 7:21 (NLT)