Just wait

Yesterday afternoon the birds were singing, the sun was shining and the temperature finally broke fifty degrees. Yes, spring finally sprung in Northern Pennsylvania.

I decided to celebrate the grand occasion with a run at the Peninsula along the no longer frozen bay. The parking lots were packed and the bike path filled with excited Erie-ites who were eager to emerge from their winter hibernation. Everyone seemed thrilled to be in the great outdoors without the need for Eskimo apparel. It truly was a wonderful day.

As I ran along my scenic route of trees and squirrels I listened to a sermon on my phone thanks to one of the many apps available from churches all across America. I love the ministry of sermons made available on phones, computers and iPads. No matter where I am I can listen to the word of God. I have my pick of what topic, scripture or speaker I’m in the mood to hear from on that particular day. The advent of technology has given birth to a whole new way to learn from God’s word and I love soaking in its benefits.

I chose to listen to the pastor from Mars Hills church in Seattle Washington. He was a guest speaker at Saddleback Church in California – a massive congregation with more parking lots than my church has people. The guest speaker’s sermon was on being born again and following Jesus. The first twenty minutes were promising but I can't tell you anything about the second half of the pastor's sermon. I never ended up hearing much past the introduction and first two points of the forty minute message because technology decided to take a nap. Or maybe God told it to go take a nap. Either way, the message was cut short.

Right before the speaker went silent he was telling a story about taking his kids out on a windy day to fly kites. Just as he was about to tell the congregation about what happened to the kite in the windstorm the app cut out. Normally I would stop, fix the malfunction and the continue on my run but at this particular moment I didn’t want to stop because I didn’t need to hear any more of what the speaker had to say. His message had already made its point to me. 

The last words before the audio cut out were precisely what I needed to hear. The pastor told his daughter just as he was about to let go of the kite to send it flying up and into the wind, "Just wait, this is going to be amazing." And that was it. Not another word was necessary. Those words were all the sermon my spirit desperately needed.

No matter where I am, what I’m going through or what my circumstances look like from the outside, I just need to wait. God has something amazing up ahead. Even when life is windy I can hold onto the promise that God has something great in store. 

Romans 8:28 assures me, “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

There are amazing surprises up ahead. I must get ready and with great expectation, anticipate the wonder of what God is going to bring forth. Just like the pastor told his daughter when she was getting ready to watch her first kite fly into the sky, what God has on the horizon is going to be amazing.

Sometimes that’s all you and I need to hear. We don’t need to hear that our problems are small or to get over whatever difficulty we face today. We just need to be reminded that what God has in the future is amazing. Sometimes the one message that we need to hear is, "just wait." That simple truth makes the present difficulties and the fierce storms of life all the more tolerable. They are just temporary. Something amazing is right around the corner if we will just wait. 

So get ready and just wait. Because God is about to do something big. Beloved, hold onto your hat, because it’s going to be amazing.