This fall, for the first time in 13 years, I will not be commuting to work every day.

And, as you might imagine, I’ve not been the only one on the road.  I’ve made that daily commute with thousands of others. You know the commute is getting old when you start recognizing the same cars that pass by going the other direction.

But it’s not typically the commuters going the other direction that I find myself giving the most attention.  It’s the ones going in the same direction that I’m going.

And with roughly two hours on the road every day, one has much time to think about things…which could be good or bad.  So I’ve had plenty of time to ponder the behavior of other motorists on the commute.

I would guess the behavior that bothers me the most would be the driver who feels the need to ride my bumper like we’re racing in the Indianapolis 500. It’s kind of like this person believes that the entire route from his house to work is a big race track and his goal is to get to the finish line first.

Now, if you’ve ever ridden with me for any distance, you will know that I mostly stay within the speed limit. But for some people, this simply is not good enough. Yet, I don’t think they would be satisfied with any speed at which I’m driving. Because their main concern is that I am ahead of them. They just cannot be satisfied where they are.

Now, over the years, I have perfected some techniques to try and back them off my bumper. And, I was able to perfect these techniques without getting shot.

The first is the gentle brake check. I simply want the tailgater to see my brake lights come on so he thinks I’m getting ready to slow down. In many cases, this technique is enough to back the person off, at least for a little while.

If that doesn’t work, I have been known to move my car as close to the white line on a straightaway so the person thinks I am telling them to go on and pass me. Interestingly enough, many times they don’t choose to pass but they do back off. Maybe they think I’m swerving. (Maybe I am swerving.)

If that fails and I am using cruise control, I may just tick the speed down ever so slightly so they will eventually get the message to pass. What I won’t do is to speed up so they think they are pushing me to go faster.

Now, there is one more thing I do sometimes and it’s really just mean-spirited on my part. If they refuse to move off my bumper, I decide that I need to wash the windshield and will give it a couple of sprays. Of course, with the person being so close to me, the spray hits his windshield too and he has to turn on his wipers. I don’t know why I gain satisfaction in doing that but I do.

So there are some commuters whose impatience leads them to always want to be somewhere else or to get somewhere faster or to move others out of the way or to always have the upper hand.

Of course, included in this category is the person who will pass you like you are standing still no matter where you are on the road. Whether it’s a double yellow line or a curve in the road or a hill, it doesn’t matter. They are going to pass you and I think they really do have a death wish.

The other behavior that just drives me crazy is the car that pulls out in front of you. No kidding but this happens at least once a day on a commute. I’ve asked myself before if I’m invisible. It even happens when there’s no one behind me and the person could wait another two seconds and they wouldn’t be taking my life into their hands.

But here’s the deal. If you’re going to pull out in front of me and cause me to hit the brakes instead of hitting you, please get your speed up and go faster than I was going. I mean, really…you pull out in front of me and then go slower? Come on.

And it’s this same type of driver that, if you decide to pass them, while you are passing, they speed up. Really? You’re going 10 miles per hour slower than I am but by the time I pass you, I’m going several miles over the speed limit? No way.

All I can think of with this driver is that he either is not paying attention to his speed (but was, instead, staring at his cell phone) or that he’s decided he doesn’t want someone in front of him. Maybe he feels the need to stay with you when you’re trying to pass.

Now, if we are honest with each other, all of us may be guilty of some of these transgressions. I’ve done it before with the speeding up thing. There’s just that tendency to want to keep up with others.

And so we have, for lack of better terms, the impatient tailgater and the oblivious intruder. One never being satisfied, always needing to be somewhere else and the other so self-absorbed they don’t even pay attention to what’s going on around them or trying to keep up with others.

Let’s look at these phrases again:

Never being satisfied
Always needing to be somewhere or someone else
Self-absorbed
Always trying to keep up with others

But if we turn those phrases around, maybe they look somewhat like this:

Always being content
Never having to be somewhere or someone else
Focusing on others
Not having to keep up with others

Paul writes to the church at Phillipi:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

You know, my commute to work is over. Maybe your work commute is over as well. Or, it may be that you still spend a lot of time on the road.

But there’s another commute that is of much more importance in the long run. What about life’s commute? Do you ever stop on the side of life’s highway long enough to ponder your commute?

Some of us might be described as impatient tailgaters. It doesn’t seem that we are ever satisfied with our station in life. There’s always something else that we want or need. We don’t do well when we have to wait for something…even waiting on God. We want to take things into our own hands, pass others on curves or hills, cross the double yellow line.

Paul reminds us that contentedness is achievable. Think about it. What if someone told you that he or she had the secret to being content in life? Wouldn’t you want to know it?

Well, it has much less to do with whether we find ourselves at the front of the line than it has to do with our source of strength while we are in line.

Paul writes…I can do this through him, through Jesus. He’s the one who gives me the strength to be contented.

Or might we be described as the oblivious intruder. Do we ever get so self-absorbed that we fail to see the person in front of us? We just trample all over them to get out onto the highway? When we finally do see someone else, do we feel the urge to have to keep up with them?

Again, Paul reminds us that we can be satisfied with who we are and where we are in life. And if we are satisfied, we are much more likely to be paying attention to those around us.

So a good question for each of us to be asking ourselves, “What do things look like on your commute? What do they look like on my commute?”

Are we willing to be content?