One summer morning, I opened my eyes to the morning sunlight brightening my room. Wait, sunlight? I looked over at my clock. It was 7:00 a.m.! I couldn’t believe it!

The race against the clock began with what might as well have been a starter pistol. I frantically put my work clothes on. I clambered down the stairs, scooping up my lunch and work supplies as I heading for my truck. It was now 7:20, and it would take at least 40 minutes to get to the construction site. My dad required us to be at the construction site at 8 a.m. every morning, ready to work, and this was my last summer to work for him before I started college.

I got into my truck and pulled out of the driveway. I flew down the road toward the entrance of my neighborhood, but I couldn’t locate the coordinates for the construction site on my gps. Figuring that I knew the way, I turned right at the entrance and continued down the road at a record-setting pace. I slammed on the breaks as I came over the hill, the tires screeching as I came to an abrupt stop in front of the stop sign.

I continued straight, pushing the pace as I passed rows of lavishly inlayed neighborhoods, tracts of red-dirt farmland, and gigantic houses surrounded by rolling fields. I thought I could still make it.

After driving down the same road for a while, I turned onto what became my racetrack, a highway called Portland Avenue. I floored the accelerator, passing people left and right. I wove in and out of traffic like an expert Formula-1 racecar driver competing for first place. It wasn’t the other drivers I was competing against though; I was racing against time.

It was time to turn off the highway—or so I thought. I almost instantly realized that the exit was too early, but there was no place to turn around for another five minutes. I finally came upon a driveway that I whipped in and out of, heading back the direction I had come.

By the time I got back onto the highway, I was falling behind the clock. It was getting close to 8 a.m. I drove desperately on. Yet again, I thought that I found the right exit. It looked like a new neighborhood on the side of the highway, like the one I had remembered, but it was not. To my frustration, I had to turn around again. This happened one or two more times until I finally found the right neighborhood.

I floored it through the rows of houses, skidding around corners and leaving the smell of burnt-rubber behind me. I felt like a stunt driver as I drifted into the curb and threw my truck into park. I jogged nervously toward the construction site across the street.

It was 8:15 a.m. I was later for work.

My dad came up and talked to me, giving me a well-deserved lecture on the importance of being on time. It is not acceptable to be late to work, and it is especially bad when you are 15 minutes late or more. There was a certain time I was supposed to be at work, and it was my responsibility to account for the time it would take me to get there, to leave early enough—even to go to bed early enough the night before so I could get there on time. I had stayed up late the night before, which had started this whole mess in the first place.

No level of expert, Formula-1 driving ability can make up a lack of personal responsibility. This incident taught me not only the importance of being on time, but that it includes preparing to be on time. That is being responsible to yourself and your boss. I stayed up late, and that lead to me oversleeping, breaking speed limits and other traffic laws, and still being late for work.

Things like arriving to work on time are the little responsibilities we must be faithful in. As it says in Luke 16:10, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Being on time is one of the little things that shows God that He can give us greater opportunities. If you are on time and reliable, you will be well on your way to being able to be trusted with greater opportunities.

The next time you’re considering going to bed late, think of your responsibilities, whatever they may be. Be sure you are being faithful, even in the little things. If you are faithful with your time, God will give you much greater responsibilities—and opportunities.