Traffic and Eternity

So, today I sat in traffic for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  As you can imagine it was pretty frustrating and I still haven't warmed up to the traffic here in Miami even though I have been here 3 months now.  As I sat in my car cruising down Kendall Drive going a whole 2.5 miles per hour I started thinking about my day and my job.  I turned down the radio and just allowed myself to think, trying to push aside the rising frustration of the traffic jam.  Slowly my thoughts drifted to my role as an intern with Cru. 
     Recently, I have been doubting the importance of my role doing full time ministry at FIU.  Doubts kept creeping into my head that my labor and work wasn't making much of a difference or wasn't important because I wasn't doing a "real job".  What I would call a real job is a 9 to 5 career where you receive a paycheck for the labor you put in while at work.  Ministry definitely doesn't fit that description and never will.  I work with students each day but you never know if they will show up to hang out with you or not.  When they don't I often times feel useless because I am not fulfilling my duties as a missionary.  In these moments is I feel the doubt set in that I am not doing something productive and effective for God. 
      It's funny that God brought me time to ponder these thoughts while sitting in traffic.  God knew I couldn't escape this jungle of cars and he was allowing me to have some time to reflect on these doubts and what eternity really means.  He was revealing to me the grand importance of my job as an intern.  The fact that I get to work with about 8 guys every week is simply amazing yet I never stopped to think about it. God graciously allowed me to hang out with these guys weekly and point them to the God and Savior.  It started to dawn on me that this was ultimately the most important thing possible to do in someone's life--point them to the one who gives them love, life and a hope.  God was instilling in me an eternal perspective in one of the more unusual yet appropriate settings. 
       As I continued to ponder eternity I thought about the day when all people on heaven and on earth and under that earth will bow to Jesus.  I looked at all of the cars around me and suddenly had pity and love for these hundreds of people that may or may not know Jesus.  I realized that each person in each car would one day have to bow to Jesus but God has called me (and every other believer) to be a light to people like these.  The beauty is that this is simply what I am doing as an intern! This thought made me so proud of my role and job; it allowed me to joyfully embrace this ministry God has called me to and started to relight the fire that once burned so brightly in my heart. 
        What God taught me today was two-fold.  I am so thankful for this renewed perspective of my job and eternity.  He also taught me not to hate traffic so much.  Ha, God is slowly helping me warm up to the traffic by showing me he can use it for my good instead of simply annoying me.  It's crazy how often he uses the little things in life to draw us closer to Him :)