Standing in line

Standing in line.

How often do you stand in line? Have you, like me, stood in line and felt invisible? I was at a restaurant last week, waiting at the hostess stand, surrounded by signs that said, "We will be pleased to seat you," while no one noticed I was standing there.

Our cable was out last night, so I called the cable company. I went through a ton of automated phone questions, "Press one for blah, two for bleh, and three...." I entered my phone number three times, was told it was an invalid phone number twice. I've only had the same phone number since 1988 -- I assure you, it is not invalid! I finally made it to a human, and was told that I had been mistakenly transferred to Nashville. Please hold.

I had to start the process all over again. When it got to the phone number question, I handed the phone to Steve -- "Enter our phone number! I just can't do it again." Finally, I made some progress. "All available operators are busy. Please hold. Your estimated wait time is 14 minutes."

I hung up.

Waiting in lines, we can feel invisible.

Our office devotional today was about feeling far from God. Joyce quoted a line from a song. I can't remember it right now, but in the song was the phrase, "God was right there all the time, patiently waiting in line."

Sometimes, I imagine he feels invisible when he's waiting in my line.