I don’t like waiting. At all!

A few years ago, we were driving south on I-75 to visit relatives in Florida. Being the history buff that I am, I asked Tim if we could take a little detour through Savannah. I was so excited when he agreed.

On the way in, we drove by the Talmadge Memorial Bridge. It’s a suspension bridge that’s absolutely breath taking. That alone was worth taking the detour.

What I really wanted was to take a guided tour, but we had our dog Little John with us and our over-stuffed bags were piled in the back seat of the truck. Instead, we drove around the historic section. I loved seeing the architectural style of the centuries old buildings. While sitting in the heavy traffic, we were able to read some of the historic banners.

As we were heading out of Savannah, Tim noticed a sign. “If we turn left here, we can get back to I-75.”

“But we know the way we came in will also take us back to the interstate,” I argued.

“Let’s try it.” With that Tim turned left and soon we were driving up the on-ramp.

“This is I-275,” I announced when I read the sign.

“It’ll be okay. This will probably merge into I-75 soon,” he tried to reassure me.

I soon began to feel uneasy. For one, there wasn’t much traffic on 275. I thought that was rather strange since it was a bypass of a major city. And we drove for a few miles without seeing any signs for I-75.

“Are you sure the sign said this is the way back to I-75?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it did.”

As we drove, I desperately looked for road signs.

“I’m not seeing any signs about I-75,” I stated.

“Just give it more time,” Tim answered.

We continued on driving for a few more miles. I was growing more concerned. “Are we ever going to get back to I-75? Let’s face it, all we know for sure is that we are driving on
275 in Georgia.” At that time, we didn’t have smart phones and or GPS.

“I thought we would’ve reached I-75 by now,” Tim admitted.

“Maybe we should get directions before we drive any further away from Savannah,” I suggested.

He agreed to get off at the next exit. We drove for another couple of miles before we came across an exit that had a gas station. And yes, that was it. One gas station.

As soon as Tim parked the truck, I ran inside and asked the attendant, “How far is to I-75?”

A blank expression crossed her face. I wasn’t sure what was going through her mind until she answered, “It’s a quarter mile up the interstate.”

Heat rose in my cheeks. “Really? We haven’t seen any signs about it.” I tried to ease my embarrassment.

She pointed and stated, “It’s on the other side of the exit.”

Yep, her response pretty much sealed my ability to save face. I thanked her and walked back to the truck. “You all aren’t going to believe this.”

“I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.” Psalm 130:5 (KJV)

As my Mamaw Jo used to say to me quite often, “Don’t be in such an all fired hurry!” Obviously, I was in an all fired hurry to get back to the interstate and to where I felt safe. By doing that, I not only stressed myself out, but Tim as well. Furthermore, I had actually placed my hope on signs made by man and not on God’s promise.

If our hope is in the Lord, our outlook there should be as well.

“There’s the sign momma,” Sara pointed out as we drove by it.

“And it’s very large,” Tim added.

They were both right. Again, I felt heat rise in my cheeks. “It was blocked because of the exit being on a small hill with a bridge. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”