Playing the Waiting Game

Jodi and I are waiting in Evergreen.

We’re waiting for our third baby, which should arrive in about a week.  If the ultrasound pictures are accurate, it should be our third boy in 4 years.  Living in Branson where boys can be boys is exciting.  Thinking about how to train our boys on when and how to “man up” is exhilarating.  The faith exercise deepens as we look at the monthly math of finances and remember that (1) God has always provided and (2) that God is bigger than math.  The thought of getting beat-down by 3 little Jedis in our lightsaber battles makes me grin.  The waiting is the hard part.  There really is nothing I can do to speed up the baby arrival time… which is strangely similar to the second thing we’re waiting on.

We’re waiting for direction and insight into the best way to minister in Branson.  Small town ministry is very different than ministry in larger towns.  In a small town, you know everyone and everyone knows you.  Jodi and I see this as a positive; we desire to live transparent lives and we want people to know what makes us tick.  We’re finding that many people in our little community want more privacy in their lives than we want in ours.   Some of that is healthy.  When everyone knows (almost) everything you do, there’s comfort in having part of your personal life that’s private.  As I study what the Bible says about Christians living in community, transparency is key to how it’s supposed to work.  Getting people to open up to God and to each other is proving to be a very slow, prayerful process.  I’m learning that pace is okay.  Maybe God wants to work in peoples’ lives at his pace, not at our microwave-western-give-it-to-me-5-minutes-ago pace.

What are you waiting on?