Leo was as regular as clockwork. A few minutes before 3 PM, he would walk into my office, and say: It’s time to get a cup, are you ready?
While I enjoyed the break and our afternoon conversations, the ride to the coffee shop was a hang-0n-for-your-life experience. This kind, jovial, old gent evidently had nitro in his DNA because the second the traffic light turned green he morphed into a mixture of three of the all time NHRA greats: Matt Hagan, Don Prudhomme, and Big Daddy Don Gartlis.
Quicker than you could say Folgers, Leo honked his horn, smoked his tires, floor-boarded the gas pedal and raced to the coffee shop—Leo was a better fumer and fretter than he was a patient waiter.
To be truthful, if you’re anything like me, both of us are too much like Leo. We hate to wait at red lights, in lines, or for the 30 seconds it takes for a microwave to do its magic—we’re better at getting up and going than we are at sitting and waiting.
Whatever you do, please don’t put me on hold—elevator music isn’t relaxing; it’s a fight song.
A.W. Tozer (1918-1963) lamented this spirit of busyness because it has diminished our ability to be still and know the Lord. Tozer said: We are victims of the philosophy of activism tragically misunderstood, and he defined it as an urgent life of getting and spending, going and returning, organizing and promoting, buying and selling, working and playing. Tozer continued: If we are not making plans or working to carry out plans already made we feel that we are failures, that we are sterile, unfruitful eunuchs, parasites on the body of society.
In these stress-filled times, we need to ease up on the throttle and learn to wait on the Lord. David said that he waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry (Psalm 40:1).
When we wait, with an expectant hope, in God’s providential care, we find that God will:
- Offer guidance: Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long (Psalm 25:5)
- Provide deliverance: We wait for the Lord; he is our deliverer and shield. (Psalms 33:20).
- Answer prayer: Listen to what I say, Lord! Carefully consider my complaint! Pay attention to my cry for help, my king and my God, for I am praying to you! Lord, in the morning you will hear me; in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer (Psalms 5:1-3).
- Give strength: Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).
John Ortberg has commented on the importance of waiting. Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.
Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. ~Isaiah 26:8
Last night was a night of weird dreams, and for some reason I was on the Johnny Carson show playing the role of Carnac the Magnificent. I had the routine down perfect: I held a sealed envelope to my head, and I gave the answer to the question inside.
If you know anything about a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you probably know it has a transfer case, and if you know a little something about psychology, you most likely understand the concept of transference. An incident occurred earlier in the week that caused me to think of both.
When I turned on the TV and tuned in to watch the Packers and Falcons, I was expecting to watch an entertaining and competitive game of football—I was disappointed. When it came time for the second game between the Steelers and the Patriots, I was confident the game would be much better than the earlier fiasco—I was wrong.
The prayers of pastors, are heard at least every four years in Washington D.C., and this was true again this year when Bishop Wayne T. Jackson prayed for President Donald Trump: We ask that you give him the wisdom of Solomon, the vision of Joseph and the meekness of Christ . . . Solomon kept peace among many nations, Joseph dreamt better for the people, and Christ who accepted us all.
The world in which we live seems to be more take than give. The focus is more on what I can take from you than on what I can contribute; in a conversation, it’s more talk than listen; and in the marketplace, it’s more sabotage than service.
To get to where you need to go, with what you need to have, so you can say or do what needs to be said or done, you most likely use a cue or two. These come in different forms, fashions, and shapes. They can be as simple as an alarm clock to nudge you out of bed, a sticky note to budge your memory, or an inspirational quote to encourage your daily trudge on the treadmill.
Some of these are as simple as ABCD, and they will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus:
When I’m writing an article, I can get a little frustrated with my typos. These little gaffes can be the source of large misunderstandings or they can be a bit humorous. A case in point is a verse from a song that was misprinted: Let Us Break Bread On Our Knees.
Some people look at nature and see the beauty in the flowers. I walk through the baking section of the grocery store and see beauty in a bag of flour. I like bread, and I’ve eaten more than my share of Wonder in hope that its enriching ingredients will build me a strong body in eight ways.
insightbyseymour 