the waiting game.

it's not a game any of us like to play. right now, i'm waiting for camp to start. after camp ends, i'll be waiting to move to birmingham. then, i'll be waiting to find my place in birmingham and to figure out where exactly i fit in all of this.

it's the waiting game. and sometimes, we find out that our timing, well...it isn't God's timing. sometimes i get really frustrated with God's timing. i felt miserable in columbia for a good chunk of my senior year, and yet leaving was really hard. why did things have to get better at the end? as i drove home, i read ecclesiastes (probably not the safest of things to do, mind you!), and thought about how the writer talks about the different times there are for things.

this connected with my quiet time last night--i'm reading through john, and i came to this very interesting passage in john 8 where jesus claims he knows Abraham and is the son of God, and the people want to kill Him. jesus doesn't give himself up. he slips away and hides from those who are angry.

this caused me to think quite a bit. ultimately, Jesus died at the hands of the people, who were angry about His claims of divinity. why didn't Jesus just go ahead and let them kill him? His death would have still brought redemption to humanity, regardless of the timing. so, why not?

because it wasn't time. because there is a time and purpose for everything, and Jesus still had things left to do before His death on the cross. waiting was so important...think of all the miracles and all the lessons He still had to impart on His disciples. there is a reason for waiting.

so anytime i (or you, my few readers), are frustrated about the timing of things and why they won't work out (especially after you tell yourself that this is perfect and thus must be God's plan), remember God's timing. it's different than your's. that's how it is supposed to work.

i'm not sure if this is as coherent as it was when i was reading john at 1am...but i do know, the waiting game stinks. but i'm going to keep waiting. i'm going to hold out. i'm going to tell myself to embrace peace and to know that God's plans and desires for me are better than my own.