I mess up orders…I have a surly demeanor…I slam the plate on the table when I bring the food…okay, I’m not talking about that kind of waiter. Just having a little fun…

I do not wait well. I might be alright as long as I have a reasonable expectation of the duration of the wait. Waiting on slowpokes when driving? Nnnnnot so much. I confess that I am one of those who “shoots the gap”, looking for that little opening. I imagine myself to be like a running back who sees a hole in the line and gallops through for a big gain. Speaking of, how about that 98-yard touchdown run by the Tampa Bay Bucs last Sunday? Waiting on food, which I guess (heh, heh) goes back to the first kind of waiter. “I’ll get to it.” Sorry, that doesn’t work for me – or any guest, I’m sure.

Whether it’s weaving through traffic looking for the faster lane or giving a “polite” reminder to another server that you still haven’t gotten your food, we get impatient in this fast-paced world. Right as I was trying to get onto this page after my computer warmed up, muttering “come on”. We wait for God to act. We can tell ourselves that God is at work while we wait. Do not jump to the default worrying and fretting. We may end up waiting interminably. Remember God’s concept of time. For two millennia we have been waiting for Christ to return. The first Christians believed it was imminent, in their lifetime. We must understand their historical context, much more limited than ours today. God never disappoints. God never removes Himself from the equation. God never abandons us. We will arrive at our destination, sometimes at a more perfect time than we could have imagined. Our food will come. The moments of anxiety and impatience can be filled with, you know, deep breathing, prayer. Our strength will be renewed; we will fly like an eagle; run without breaking a sweat; walk without stumbling. In the waiting situations of our lives, God sits with us, reassuring us. The unconditional love and the unwavering faith of Jesus pulls us through all our waiting.

Pastor Art