Dr pepper and Patience

There have been a lot of ideas and theories that have gone around about Dr Pepper: One person told me once that it is carbonated prune juice. Some claim that it is the original American soda. Another person told me that it was a “graveyard soda” (a concoction of different sodas mixed together) and that it contained Coca-Cola.
In actuality, Dr Pepper contains no prune juice, although, if you try hard enough, you may be able to detect some resemblance between the two tastes. It is not the original American soda, although it has been around longer than Coca-Cola, so, no, it does not contain Coca-Cola. Dr Pepper was formulated by a pharmacist named Charles Alderton, but it was named by his boss, Wade Morrison. Wade Morrison had previously lived in Virginia, near a Doctor Charles T. Pepper. The story goes that Morrison was romantically interested in Dr. Pepper’s daughter, but that the good doctor refused to consent to any relationship between the two, seeing Morrison as a glorified “soda jerk” and not as a serious businessman. Even after Morrison tried to win favor with his intended’s father by naming a soda after him, it only reinforced Charles Pepper’s belief as to what this suitor was. If that’s really what happened, perhaps Morrison’s timing was off. Dr Pepper (the soda) ultimately made him a very wealthy man. Perhaps if he had waited until he was successful before pursuing the lovely Miss Pepper, it would have been possible to convince her father that Wade was, indeed, a serious businessman, capable of taking good care of a family.
Sometimes, we, as human beings, get in such a hurry to have what we want when we want it. Granted, we live in a microwave society (What? I have to wait SIX MINUTES before I can eat this?), but even before that, we were always anxious to get whatever it was, right now. Remember that old prayer, “Lord give me patience. Right now!” God doesn’t work on our timetable though. He expects us to work on His timetable. You wouldn’t go to your boss at work and try to tell him what hours you were going to work, would you (well, some people are on flexible hours, but, even then, there’s a limit)?
Habakkuk 2:3 says, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Some have pointed to this verse as a clear contradiction, even within the same verse it says that the vision will tarry, and then it says it won’t tarry. Of course, it also talks about an appointed time, without giving any indication as to when that appointed time is. Waiting for something to happen, when you don’t know when it supposed to happen, can seem like an eternity. It can seem like it is never going to happen. We could easily conclude that the event is tarrying, but it isn’t, it will come when it is time. That is all that verse is saying. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” In First Samuel 13, Saul got into trouble because he didn’t wait on God—from the look of it, if had waited just a few minutes longer, maybe an hour… In the 25th Psalm, David talks about the importance of waiting on God.
In Luke 21:19, Jesus cautions us that, “In your patience possess ye your souls.” I think it is fairly self-explanatory that it is better to be like David than like Saul. In Romans 5:3, Paul gives us some instruction on how to gain patience, he says it comes through tribulation. Of course, most of us don’t like to go through tribulation, but a little bit of tribulation can lead to a great deal of patience. A lot of tribulation can be even more beneficial. If you find yourself being impatient, then pray for patience, but don’t be surprised if you start finding yourself going through tribulation. Just be patient, God won’t bring you to it, unless He’s ready to bring you through it.