“Are we there yet.” I have always been an impatient child. I don’t like waiting on anything. My favorite phrase to repeat on Thursday nights around the Center is “I hate pregame”. That just means that I don’t like the time before a meeting starts. I want to walk in the building and get started. I hate waiting.

“Be still and know that I am God.” “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.” “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Those verses sting me every time I read them. Waiting dictates who is important and who is not. Lawyers don’t wait on clients and doctors don’t wait on patients. We wait on them because their time and attention is valuable and well worth waiting for. God is even more so. So why is this so difficult for me?

I’ve had a creed around the Center for the last several years. It goes like this; I Am is awesome, I am not I Am, I Am lives in me, I reflect I Am. The second part of that creed is the most difficult for me to swallow. My world has a tendancy to revolve around me. I want it so. I want what I want when I want it and how I want it. I want it that way because I believe I know what is right and how it should be done. Do you not believe the same? That is called egocentricity and we all suffer from it to a lesser or greater degree. My contention is that there is only one sin and it is the original sin; the sin of self before God. Isn’t that what Adam and Eve did? Isn’t that what we all do toward our friends and neighbors? Isn’t that what starts “worship wars” and personal disputes among brothers and sisters in Christ? We want everything when we want it and how we want it and now is not soon enough. And yet the bible says that we must wait.

I’ve been waiting on this building for years. We’re so close I can taste it but I have to wait. Why? Because God knows better than I do. God knows the beginning and the end. He knows what is coming. He’s trying to prepare me for what is in store and when I am ready it will begin. He’s training me. He wants me to be successful in every kingdom endeavor that I attempt and therefore I must train and wait on him. Olympic races do not start when the runners are ready, they begin when the gun goes off. The runners take their marks and wait for the signal. Do you have any idea how many minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years go into the preparation for that one start. And they wait on the gun.

I must wait. I must remind myself that we must “run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Christ is at the right hand of the Father and He waits. How can I do less.