WAITING

Waiting! Don't you just love waiting? I know I sure do. I am so good at waiting. I can wait for day, weeks, and even months on end. Really, if I could do just one thing with my life it would have to be waiting. Waiting on the restaurant to bring my food. Waiting for the person parked in front of me at the green light. Waiting for the person checking out ahead of me with 12 items in the 10 items or less lane (yes, I counted them myself and there were 12). Waiting for my paycheck to come every two weeks. Man, I just love to wait. It gives me so much pleasure and joy.

In case you weren't able to tell by reading, that previous paragraph was not dripping, it was sopping wet, with sarcasm. In all honesty, I hate--scratch that, despise--waiting. There are only so many hours in a day and I intend to make the most out of all of them. Waiting is not helping my agenda. Let's not forget the fact that I am an important person and I have important things to do. Life would be much more simple if everyone else just realized this. I am Jordan Davis and everyone should know who I am! To be honest, when I have to wait, sometimes I wonder why everyone hasn't realized this yet.

I'm sure you already figured out this isn't how life works. We have to wait everywhere we go. And I'm probably preaching to the choir (I have never really understood that saying, apparently the choir already knows everything) if I bring up waiting on God. I'm sure you already know is timing isn't always the most optimal for someone who likes to have their ducks in a row. It seems to me he likes to wait until the last minute. There was the time I ran out of money for college and he came through when I started packing to leave. The letter of encouragement when I was ready to call it quits on ministry. The book placed in my hands in the middle of a hurricane of my own making. The roommate when I was on the brink of having to sell my house. Or the much needed phone call from a friend.

Inevitably, when I look back on how events have unfolded and played out in my life, I see things from a totally different perspective. It makes more sense why God didn't give me what I needed or wanted at that exact moment. Now I am able to see what God was doing and how he was working things out. I was constantly asking God when, only to have him respond with the exact same question. And I see, more often than not, it isn't about when God will come through; rather it's about when I will learn to let go, relinquish control, move on, or trust.

For almost 2 years now I have been waiting on certain things to come to fruition. Dreams that God has given me. Desires he has placed in my life. Although it hasn't been easy, nor am I already there, but after 27 years I have begun to trust that God really does know better than me. That he is working things out even while I am waiting. And in the midst of it, I have come to the realization that sometimes I just need to keep moving forward, until I hear otherwise. Because the "silence" of God isn't an excuse for inaction. It's not time for a pity party, but time to take hold of the promise that God "is able to do more than we can hope or imagine." John Waller says it well: "I will move ahead, bold and confident, taking every step in obedience. I will serve you while I'm waiting. I will worship while I'm waiting." One day I hope that rings true of my life.