One time I mentioned this to a group of my friends. They all laughed and began making jokes about me poking Mark in the side and loudly, “Shhhshing” him whenever he got distracted. And of course making him walk behind me – my personal favorite.
After the laughter died down, I shared a story with my
friends to illustrate my point.
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There is one more story I’d like to share as I end the series on life lessons learned while living overseas. It’s another one from Russia but it’s a special one engrained in my heart. The Russian town I lived in was small by Russian standards, only about 100,000 people. There was one small and very old hospital. The previous year I had an emergency appendectomy there and soon realized there is not much to do during the day. No televisions, no food service, nothing – just some radios that didn’t work that well. Visitors were greatly treasured. A teammate and I began weekly visits with the patients in the women’s ward. The women on this ward were in the hospital for 4 weeks. Needless to say they were eager to talk with anyone who walked through the door.
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I just read a great analogy on God’s timing. I’m doing Priscilla Shirers’ study Discerning the Voice of God. In this lesson she points out how we’re often frustrated on God’s “delay” to answer our prayers.Often as we wait, God is in the process of orchestrating our circumstances and other people. In order for His plan to succeed certain things need to be in line. Priscilla equates God to an air traffic controller and us to the pilot. Now the air traffic controller is not only responsible for us, he’s also looking at other planes in the air and those still on the ground. We, the pilot, may be radioing in, ready to land, but the controller needs to make sure all other parties are in their place. If another aircraft is in our path when we land, the results can be catastrophic.
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woe to those who squander today straining toward tomorrow: will we savor this gift called time? (continued) An unexpected--but delicious--venue for a spiritual lesson: join me two decades ago at my first Chinese banquet in Hong Kong. Course after course after course (I think there were 12 in all) I couldn't identify any course that was just a filler, just an appetizer, just something to get through, to get past, to get on with the main course which wasn't here yet...but it was coming... Every course--in presentation, taste, texture--bore the marks of a master chef. Then it finally occurred to me: the reason no course seemed like a filler was because no course was a filler. To the master chef who had prepared this banquet especially for us, each course was main.
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Woe to those who squander today straining toward tomorrow: will we savor this gift called time? Most don't take the mic and say, "Honestly, it feels like God is wasting my time" because there's a chunk of people in the church who get nervous when we say something "negative." And who wants to see a religious spirit have a cow in the corner? Not a pretty sight... So, we may not say it out loud, but often we believe it in our guts. God, let's get moving. Why won't you open a door? What am I still doing here? Why are they holding me back? I could make more of a difference than you're letting me make... In short, "God, you're wasting my time." Sometimes we sabotage the potential of tomorrow by underestimating the potential of today.
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