Yesterday Kisa and I had a trip to downtown Birmingham, Alabama for a ten o’clock appointment. Downtown is approximately fifty miles from our home with half that distance traveling Interstate 65.
Considering and anticipating accidents, we left home around
eight and stopped for breakfast at Hardees in Calera which is about halfway to
our destination. When we left Hardees with over an hour before the appointment.
If you are like me I do not like being late. Travel was fast
considering construction when all of a sudden traffic slowed, creeped, and
stopped around nine twenty-five. As always there was a fender bender. In this
incident it was a rear ender in the left-handed lane. From that point forward it
was clear sailing and we arrived early as we planned. I was out by 10:12.
The American culture is one of punctuality. Dr. Mercedes Turon,
my University Spanish professor was Castilian and said most of the world does
not live by the clock. I know that there are plenty of people that do not.
I have been to meetings where certain people habitually run late,
usually just before the noon meal. They would always ask a question concerning
an issue previously addressed. I thought that they enjoyed making a scene and
causing a disturbance. Some would address them by saying, “If you would have
been on time you would know the answer,”
Habitual lateness is an art. One of my sisters is always
late. When we have family gatherings we always tell her an hour before the real
time where she will be on time.
Another habitual late person was an acquaintance named
Peabody. He worked for ABC Rail in Calera. He was reprimanded for his tardiness
and told that the next tardiness would result in him being fired.
Sure enough, Peabody was late again. His supervisor wanted
to be fair and asked Peabody why he was late.
Peabody was very likeable and a very good employee except
for his unpunctuality. Peabody’s story was compelling. He said I left home early
this morning where I would not be late. Stopping at a red light in Thorsby my
car went dead, I could not start it and knew I had to do something quick.
Hearing a train coming I realized that the L&N train was headed to Calera
so I jumped into a boxcar. The floor of the boxcar was rotten and I fell onto
the tracks and had to run to keep from falling. I ran until the train stopped
north of Calera. By that time I was tired and had to walk to work.
The supervisor and others broke into laughter and told Peabody
to return to work. They said Peabody was so creative that they could not fire
him. They waited two days and then fired him.
There are occasions where we do not know we are late. One
morning I got up to head to work and had a few spare moments to check my truck.
I kept thinking that the sun was unusually high to be 6:00 am. When I checked
the time, I realized that electricity had been off and the clock was wrong by
more than an hour.
I was unaware that I was late. The man I was to relieve laughed
and I had to repay him the time the next morning.
My preacher friend Lucky was to fill in and preach one Sunday that
happened to be during the changing of time. When he arrived, he thought he was
late. When he entered the church there was a Sunday School class in the auditorium.
Lucky apologized for being late and started preaching.
The congregation was polite and allowed him to preach.
Suddenly a bell rang and adults and children flooded the auditorium. Lucky was
not late but an hour early. He told me that he started the service over and
started the sermon over as well.
With God there is no time. He is always perfect in His
timing.
He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he
hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that
God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11KJV
