stuck in traffic and pain

Yesterday I had a conversation with some guys in class about traffic.

When I first moved to the Hampton Roads area, I thought I had experienced traffic through living in crazy D.C. and overcrowded Honolulu. However, nothing could have prepared me for the ridiculousness of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

I'm not sure anyone really knows why it gets backed up, and I'm sorry for the poor soul who swerves too fast or doesn't break fast enough, causes a minor accident, and backs up the bridge for eight and a half miles.

Initially, traffic would drive me absolutely nuts. I would get bored, get angry, or even get tired. I was so incredibly tired of being stuck in pointless traffic. However, after three years of trucking it across the bridge to get to school, I have finally become accustomed to the traffic, and I expect it to be bad all the time. I know that mostly likely, it is going to be there, it is going to be horrible, and it is going to delay me.

I discussed this with the guys in class, and they said that I was probably thinking about traffic with the right attitude. Heck, now I think rush hour traffic has its good sides: I've listened to numerous audiobooks, sermons, and music albums while going in and out of first gear on Interstate 64 Westbound. For me, its not rush hour, its time alone to relax, pray, and/or chill out to some tunes.

Stu's sermon on Sunday and Community Group this evening made me think about this traffic, and how it is kind of like the pain in our lives. In John 16:33, Jesus said that "in this world you will have trouble." This means that because of the godlessness in the world, things are going to get bad. Not necessarily now or soon, but things will get bad. We shouldn't be surprised by the horrible things we see on the news or by the accidents, downfalls, and pain we experience in our daily lives. However, knowing they are going to come is probably the best thing.

Just like I knowing that there is going to be disgustingly long traffic on my way to Yorktown from Norfolk enables me to prepare my heart and soul for the experience and benefit from it, Jesus says that knowing that pain is going to come in this world is going to allow you to be prepared and strengthen yourself through a relationship with him. The passage in John also contains the good news, too: Jesus says to "take heart! I have overcome the world."

Though the traffic may be bad, and the pain may be deep, knowing is half the battle. So take heart! Jesus has overcome this world, and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.