waiting

Three day weekends are a beautiful thing. It means an extra night of stay-up-as-late-as-you-want and actually enjoying Sunday evening instead of dreading the next morning.

This past weekend was particularly good for me. There were several reasons why. One was finishing grading two giant stacks of papers that had been taunting me for awhile (unfortunately I still have one huge stack left, but the taunting is growing more faint). Another was having our good friends come back to visit. We hadn't seen them for about a month, and they came down Sunday evening for supper and left yesterday around 5. We literally sat down to eat around 7 on Sunday night and didn't leave the table until about midnight (we cleared it to played Nertz...). Friendships are beautiful things.

The other reason this weekend was a good weekend was because Brent and I were able to spend a lot of time together, and talk about some fears/anxieties/hopes for our future. We decided we would go down to the "trendy" part of Louisville Saturday evening, walk around, maybe snap a few pictures, and then end up at a coffee shop. Well, what happened was more like this: drive down town, stress out about finding a parking spot, lock purse in trunk, walk 1 and a half blocks, take a picture of a cool church, be approached my a crazy man who quickly became hostile, return to car, get the heck out of dodge. The guy left us alone, but we both just didn't want to be there anymore. So we drove to a more sane (albeit less "trendy" whatever that means) part of town and hung out in Borders. I love that place. I love Seattle's Best Coffee (more than Starbucks...shock! I know). So we browsed some books and then shared a strawberry smoothie drink and began to talk. Crazy man in downtown was a perfect transition for my thoughts: Brent, I don't want to be here anymore.Picture of above mentioned church. Didn't have a lot of time to adjust settings
and get a great picture because of above mentioned crazy man.

Long story short, we talked about our future which, funny enough, we thought would be here by now. Isn't that ironic that our future is still out there? We talked about big picture dreams we still have and desire, about seeking God in all of this, and ultimately in continually serving God while we wait. Regardless of what is to come, we realize how much this time of waiting and being somewhere like this is shaping us, and we want to soak up what we're supposed to while we're here.

The next day at church we looked at the sermon titled, "Saying Yes to God When You Have to Wait." Perfect. Funny how that happens, huh? During the sermon our pastor said, "There is something that happens in waiting that is essential to becoming. What happens to us while we're waiting is often more important than what we're waiting for." It was such a beautiful affirmation for Brent and me. And then we wrapped it up with the song, "I will serve you while I'm waiting..." (which Kali also wrote about, which is fascinating in and of itself since I already had thoughts written down about what I wanted to blog about).

So no matter what you are waiting for, may you find the beauty that is God's waiting room. Even if you feel you are waiting in silence, or your appointment should have been an hour ago, God is faithful. And how you wait for God makes a big difference in how you see God.

Please continue to pray for Brent and I in this time of waiting. And if you want to check out the sermon: http://www.southeastchristian.org/sermons/?id=808