wait for it...

Have you ever said, or heard someone else say something like "I can't wait until..."  or "It seems like I'll die before..." (insert here birthday, Christmas, a trip, or anything that comes with anticipation.)

Americans are impatient.  That's all there is to it.  From the time we are old enough to hold the remote, we know that even the toughest of impossible situations can be solved in an hour, including commercials - two hours if it's a special.

A few weeks ago, our sermon at church was on being patient.  The pastor used several references in the Bible of times when people simply needed to wait.  Patience is not something that is easy to learn.  It is always a struggle.  The sermon was a tough one for me to hear, as you will see below.

Here's just a sample of some of those who waited.  Noah and his family fled catastrophe by being sheltered from the flood in an ark designed by God.  How long?  They stayed for 40 days before they found any dry land.  During that time, they could not do anything but wait!  When Moses went up the mountain, he left the Israelites waiting for him to come down for that same 40 day period.  They were not, as you remember, quite as faithful as Noah during the waiting period.  Jesus was in the desert being tempted for a similar 40-day period.  Unlike the Israelites, Jesus did not falter.  Even though all these were the same period, there are many examples of shorter (or longer) periods.  Jonah waited for three days to be delivered; Saul of Tarsus was blind for three days before he received back his sight; the Israelites wandered for 40 years, and that after captivity for 400 years.  Ouch!

Remember, asking for patience can bring some difficult times, and really press you to the limit.  I don't remember asking for patience, but God has been, and is doing, a work in me to learn patience.

The initial "waiting trial" I can remember is when our first granddaughter was born.  Everything was fine up to delivery, but then she immediately went into respiratory distress.  She had to be put into a drug-induced coma and placed on life support, only to be flown at 3 hours old to Denver.  No warning; just waiting.  Parents and grandparents waited for that first month of life to see whether there would really be a baby at home.  That was tough.  That baby survived and is now a healthy teenager with brilliance and energy to spare.

We are currently going through another "waiting trial" - again with a granddaughter, this one with leukemia.  Diagnosed at two and a half years old, one can hardly conceive of the amount of chemicals and care that it takes to get someone cured of this.  And it's not over until she is declared cancer free, which will likely be another 15 months from now.  She seems to be on the right track, which we pray will continue to be the case.

How are your "waiting" skills?  Are you able to trust God for whatever time He determines is right?

It's like God is saying to us "Would you just wait!  I know what I'm doing!"

"They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31

Final Note:  Parts of this blog were very hard to write - they bring powerful memories, not all of which I like to think about.  AB

What if I had owned the colt?

During Palm Sunday service today, I heard the wonderful story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Same as last year – and the year before that. But something was different this time - it was the scripture that really spoke to me. A particular phrase was given twice - “The Lord hath need of him.”

Luke 19:28-35 gives the story of a forgotten person in all this – the owner of the donkey colt. Although not called by name, nor described in any manner in the texts we have been given, this person’s faith and attitude are key to how this story unfolds.

It is likely that the owner was not a rich man. Donkeys are not what rich people owned. Rich people have horses and chariots and “fancy” stuff. Donkeys are workers, and likely this donkey was being raised for just that – to help the owner’s family conduct whatever business they were in. It was probably extremely valuable to that person and his family.

All of a sudden, strangers come into town, walk over to this colt, and start untying it from it’s post or stable or barn. I’d imagine the owner was just a little bit concerned about these people who, with no explanation, are taking the colt away. When confronted, their only explanation was “The Lord hath need of him.”

I’ve always believed that the stories in the Bible are accurate. That leads me to the conclusion that there was no further discussion, no debate, no more questions posed to these men. The colt was given willingly out of love. There was no promise of payment, nor of whether the owner would even get it back. It was just given away.

Which brings me back to the question – What if I had owned the colt? Would the story be any different? I’d like to think that I would be willing to do what the person in this story had done, but it really made me think about it. What would I be willing to give up if someone simply said to me “The Lord hath need of it?”