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It’s been a long, long time since I’ve last written.
I hope I can explain my lack of writing. About a year ago, I first stumbled across Next-Wave and
thought “what a great idea!!” Thinking
that everyone out there (meaning you all) would like to see what God’s
been doing in Columbus, Ohio (more specifically the Vineyard in Columbus)
with young adults, I thought this would be a great outlet to introduce you
all to Joshua House (the young adult ministry).
I contacted Rogier Bos and the rest is history.
He asked me to contribute regularly (read:
whenever the mood strikes me) and I took him up on his offer.
Flash forward to March, 2000…..
If you could see the “My Files” folder on my desktop,
you would see about 6 or 7 half written articles on a myriad of subjects.
From “Community” to “Postmodernism” to “A Church in
Philly You Should Know About” to “Underwater Basket Weaving and Its
Significance to Busters.” (OK..
the last one never really existed!).
My thought process was this…
A great idea would somehow get into my head and then I would start.
Halfway through, I would stop and think that “no one in his or
her right mind” would read this or agree with what I was writing and
then I wouldn’t continue.
About a month ago, I wrote an email to a couple of friends
asking for ideas and suggestions. One
wrote back and asked me a simple question, “What are you passionate
about?” Well, my list was a
little bit crazy and I’ll spare you the details.
But be thankful you’re not reading about
“A boy who drives a girl in a VW Jetta while listening to college
basketball on the radio and touring old churches while thinking about
traveling to England and taking black and white pictures…”
Gosh… I’m out of
breath.
Finally, an idea came out of the most mundane of
activities: waiting for a web page to load.
Actually, waiting for many web pages to load. And getting really, really impatient when it wasn’t
happening as fast as I wanted it to.
And, getting so impatient I really wanted to throw my computer
through my second story window. So
you can thank the fact that because CNN.com didn’t load fast enough one
Friday evening you’re getting an illustration about how some of us
(maybe I’m the only one?) relate to God.
As I thought about my experience
that Friday night, I thought about how I could see a glimpse of the
“CNN” logo coming on my computer monitor and then nothing and then it
would just stop. Then I would
get frustrated and hit the Enter Key again with the hope doing that would
make it appear faster. Wrong.
It just went slower.
OK… Here’s my illustration.
Waiting on God for answers to our (my) life questions, prayers,
goals, etc. Knowing at times
He is right there working, but at the same time wanting Him to go ten
times faster to get you (me) the answer.
And then we (I) try to make the answers come faster, but invariably
that just makes everything happen slower.
I see this played out not only in my life, but also in my
friends’ lives. I know this
phenomenon doesn’t just happen in Columbus, Ohio, but probably
everywhere “Next-Wave” is being read.
Fortunately, the Bible has
something to say on waiting.
First, be patient. Psalm 40:1 says “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned
to me and heard my cry.” Second,
have hope and faith (I know…easier said than done at times!). Psalm 130:5-6 says “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and
in his word I put my hope. My
soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than
watchmen wait for the morning.” Finally,
Paul, in Romans, speaks of us waiting in “eager expectation.” I love those words together: “eager expectation.”
For me, that means waiting in line at Space Mountain at Disney
World with my dad and being the next in line to go on the ride.
Wouldn’t our times of waiting on the Lord be so much easier if we
did so not with annoyance or frustration, but with “eager
expectation?”
That’s my life and that’s
real life @ 2318 N. High St. I’m
praying that this also struck a nerve in you and your “real life” at
your own address. |
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