Good traveling partner

Im blogging from in the cab of the tractor today. I put a bale of hay in the pen and parked the tractor by the gate. The cows are in the pen eating but the calves usually wait till I'm gone for about an hour before they go in. So I am killing time sitting in the tractor waiting...those who know me know that waiting is not my strong suite. 

As I sit here thinking about patience I wonder why God didn't choose to bless my with alot of it. I can think of a ton of times it's almost got me in trouble.

One time off the top of my head was one summer me and a buddy were rodeoin up in Kansas where they used to have a good run of 5 or 6 rodeos after Cheyenne. I had a 94 chevy truck with a slide in Capri rodeo camper. We had the back window of the truck taken out and a rubber boot put in that attached the window frame of the truck to the camper and made an airtight seal so you could crawl over the seat and into the camper freely.

I had been driving for way longer than my share and my travlin parter was watching a movie. After repeated requests to swap were ignored I decided I was done driving and I wanted to get in the back and watch a movie too.

Before I tell you what happened next, I will tell you that the roads in highways in Kansas are not like the winding things we have here in Texas, they go in straight lines. I will also thell you that my 1994 chevy silvarado was well equipped with tilt, power windows, and CRUISE CONTROL.

Not sure if you can see where this is going but I was young, stupid, and impatient. Instead of waiting for my lazy traveling partner to trade out, I rushed into a foolish decision like I had so many times before and so many times since. This particular bad decision was to turn on the cruise control and attach a pair of leather boot ties to the steering wheel at 10 and 2 and attempt to drive remotely. Once I got them tied I tested them by steering the truck with them for a mile or so from the saftey of the drivers seat. Once I was comfortable with the fact that I could pilot the big diesel beast, I carefully climbed over the seat and popped into the camper backwards while continuing to steer. My buddy was laying in the bed over the cab and paying close attention to the movie and didn't notice my presence even though I was in sight if he would have just looked down. As I sat on the lower bed sideways trying to steer with leather ties and look as comfortable as I could. I finally said 'hey can you rewind it?" I still remember the look on his face as he tried to figure out who was driving. Needless to say he relived me and took his turn after a good bit of cursing and swearing.

I think back to a lot of the things I did when I was younger at it makes me thankful to God for the grace he showed me by letting me live through some of them.  
 
This has been about 15 years or so, in some ways I know I've grown but in others I am still the same. God teaches me lessons all the time but only a small percentage get through but he hasn't gave up on me yet. Thank you Lord for you favor and protection even though I haven't earned it.