Waiting 101

A friend of mine, who blogs here, asked whether I was blogging more because the last time he looked at my blog, I discussed the sad state of the University of Oklahoma football program. While that was a year ago, and OU played much better in their last bowl game, I really didn't have much to discuss. Yet, here I am.

As I posted earlier, I've been enrolled in "Waiting 101" for a long time. It feels like I'll never graduate from this class. Yet, lately, I've learned to enjoy this process. I've been learning about this process of waiting is both passive and active.

I am also learning about the joy of obedience. I picked up a copy of Thomas Kelly's book Testament to Devotion. As I read it, I am consumed by an overwhelming sense of guilt for not being as obedient as I should. Yet, as Kelly encourages his readers to not be deterred from obedience. I am motivated to be tenacious in my obedience.

So, Reader, won't you pray with me as I journey in obedience?

Country Music, Lessons Learned, and What's Next

For those of you who know me, I am a fan of country music. I tend to find myself listening to "classic" artists like George Strait, George Jones, or Roger Miller. But, I also like more of the contemporary artists like Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley. Lately, I have been listening to a new group called Lady Antebellum. One song I have particularly enjoyed has been "I Run to You", which is, consequently, their newest single. They will perform it on Conan O'Brien's show this week (now I feel like a groupie, so I'm going to get to the point). What does this all mean? How does a song help with lessons learned? I'm glad you asked, Reader. Stay with me, it will get clear, hopefully, soon.

I run my life,

Or is it running me, Run from my past

I run too fast, Or too slow it seems

Remember my last post where I talked about my trip to the monastery? I think I also said that I would blog more, and we all know that didn't happen. I apologize. Anyway, as I left there, I began to feel like I needed to move in a more "forward" direction. So, I began to ask God about career choices, church choices, and just choices in general. It landed me in a place of uncertainty. So, I got discouraged when I wasn't hearing "answers". As Hybels states in his book Too Busy Not to Pray, he discussed that God answers prayer in three distinct ways: Yes, No, and Grow. As I have sought counsel and reflected personally, I find myself in a great place of waiting. Waiting for a plethora of things. I love reading in John's letters when he calls the believers, "little children." I love it when Jesus address the little children and says that we need to become like little children in Matthew 18:3. Yet as a little child, I tend to get hurried and want to run ahead and lose sight of the guidance that God gives (see Psalm 32:8, 9).

So this course is one I've been enrolled in for a LONG time--Waiting 101. As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (ESV) I am currently learning that waiting, as a believer, is not a passive process. Those who I consider much wiser than I am have done a great job of being honest with me about what it means to wait, and they have encouraged me to not live with misdirected zeal, to not live always expecting God in the big things. Rather, I've been counseled to wait and listen, to desire intimacy with God and others.

This world keeps spinning faster,

Into a new disaster, so I run to you,

I run to you

And when it all starts coming undone

You’re the only one I run to

I run to you

So what's next? I don't know. By, I do know, that the longer I wait, the sweeter whatever "it" is will be is exactly what God desires and it will be in his time. I'm learning that it is better to close my mouth and listen rather than talk so much. And, in all things, as Matthew 6:33 says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." (ESV)