DMV Offices and Amusement Parks by Garrett Johnson
March 19, 2010
This week I had a doctor’s appointment. I was excited as one can be prior to going in, I had managed to schedule the first appointment of the day! Certainly I thought I would be able to avoid the evil that began thousands of years ago at DMV offices & amusement parks, and continues today at doctors’ offices across the globe.
Waiting.
Yet upon arriving at the Dr’s office I was told so sign my name on a clipboard, and then they would call me back. Mind you, as I’m signing in I can see that I am the first and only name on the clipboard, and the only person in the office. The nurse behind the desk informed me that “We’ll be right with you”, as she did her best to hold back a smirk. Who else are they helping? As I sat down I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do. The AARP magazines on the table weren’t quite my style… So I pulled out my phone and started playing solitaire.
The thing was, I had plenty to do in the mean time. I could have worked on homework, done my devotionals, or even finished off one of the books I had in the trunk of my car. Instead I sat in the waiting room pressing 7-4-4-2, in an effort to watch pixilated cards fly across my two inch screen.
Today I was reminded of how I’ve waited on God the same way I waited in the doctors office.
In the times where we’re waiting it’s easy to put everything else on hold. When I was sitting in that waiting room, for some reason nothing was more important than sitting mindlessly — waiting…
The same thing happens in life. We set goals for what we’d like to do; to go to college, get a great job, get married, etc. etc. These goals are so far away we do little to see them happen. We sit patiently twiddling our thumbs while we wait for God to “open a door”.
The problem is, it’s not God’s job to open doors.
(I think Revelation 3:20 says something about that…)
We’ve taken our responsibility and duty to prepare for what we desire, reduced it to waiting and left the rest in God’s hands. Too often we try to keep God’s options wide open; so we stop moving and start “getting spiritual”. (i.e. Asking God for a sign, an open door, or for God to make sense of the page we flipped open our Bible to)
It seems like when I am “leaving it in God’s hands” that means slamming on the brakes and then putting off decisions. Should we pray and seek God’s guidance in our lives? YES! Will God answer us with direction? Yes! But waiting on God doesn’t mean we stop moving forward.
The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps. – Proverbs 16:9
How crazy is that? When we start moving and making plans God will guide our steps! It doesn’t say God will establish our general direction, or print out some turn by turn directions for us…
So get moving, and keep moving.
And try at all costs to avoid Dr’s offices.