in God's waiting room

I received this daily devotional from The Purpose Driven Life, and it really speaks to me. It's something I know in my head, but I'm still trying to grasp in my heart. I need reminders like this throughout my journey as Baron & I wait for a baby.

Risks in Faith: When God Delays
by Rick Warren

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV)

If you ever find yourself in God’s waiting room – waiting for an answer, a change, or a miracle – you just need to stop and trust God. He’s never late or in a hurry, because his timing is perfect.

When I started Saddleback Church, I had no idea that it would take 15 years and 10,000 weekly attenders for us to have our own land and our own building. At Saddleback’s very first church service I said, “Someday we’re going to buy at least 50 acres. But we’re not going to do it for the first five years because we’re going to put all our money into people and programs.”

Seven years after that first worship service it looked like we were well on our way to having our own building. Our people had sacrificed to raise money for land – canceling vacations, working second jobs, selling diamond rings, and giving from their pensions.

We finally found the right piece of land but we needed another $1.2 million to close the deal. In the last 60 days of 1987, the people in this church gave the needed funds and the land was ours.

Two years later, though, we still were working out zoning details with the county supervisors and they decided to delay us indefinitely.

My wife, Kay, was upset with me – and with God. She prayed: “God, you have been unfair to us. We have tried to do this exactly the way you told us with faith, honesty, and integrity. God, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but let me in on it because I don’t get it!”

God responded: “Kay, what is it to you if I allow every church on the face of the earth to have a building and land and Saddleback never does? Will you still follow me?”

She answered, “Yes, Lord, I will.”

That experience helped me really know the truth of John 13:7, when Jesus said: “You do not realize now what I'm doing but later you will understand” (NIV).

That same truth is communicated in 2 Corinthians 1:9: “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (NIV).

So often it looks like God is delaying or denying us, but his timing is perfect. Next time you feel like you’re in God’s waiting room, trust that God is working in his own perfect time on his own perfect plan – which is so much better than anything we can plan or dream.

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

finally completed a project!

Baron was in Miami last week on a mission trip with the teenagers, and that left me with a lot of alone time. So, I decided to work on a project that was thought up about 2 months ago & was put on the back burner by a procrastinator known as yours truly.

When the tornado hit our house, it took with it the vinyl cover to our firepit that sits on the deck. We still had the mesh lid, but because the cover was gone, rain was collecting in the pit and causing rust. So, I decided it would be nice to make a table top that would a) keep the rain out of the pit, and b) provide a coffee table when we aren't using the firepit. A friend of ours, Patrick Reed, built the wooden table top, and we planned to install tiles left over from our kitchen flooring. I worked on this all week, and here are some pics of the finished product. I also bought some chairs to (finally) have something to sit on outside. Nothing fancy, but they were cheap. :-)

please ignore my almost-dead hibiscus tree in the background :-(

a REAL vacation

Once a year, the Wishum clan makes the 5-ish-hour journey up to Vogel State Park in North Georgia. This is the most relaxing vacation that I believe is possible. We spend a week (give or take a few days for some folks) visiting, sitting around, napping, eating, strolling, paddleboating, putt-putting, visiting waterfalls, etc. It is truly a wonderful time to really soak in God's creation in nature. I had a GREAT week, and it was really hard to come back to the "real world". :-) Here are a few of the kazillion pics we took during the week. Enjoy!

so sweet!!

Ok, we went on vacation last week & I promise I will post pics soon, if I can get my slideshow to work. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of the cutest little 4-year-old singer ever! I am watching America's Got Talent and this girl is so sweet that I am bawling over here. Enjoy! Ok I gotta go get a Kleenex now...

life in limbo

Baron & I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago that, in a way, made me feel a little more sane. I had been having the same thoughts that he expressed, and I thought it was just me, but apparently he has made the same observations. :-)

We are in limbo right now. Stuck in the middle. Most of our closest married friends have moved to the next stage in life - having children & starting families. We love hanging out with our friends and their kids. However, we sometimes feel like they would rather be with other parents - so the kids can play, to enjoy conversations about parenting, etc. And there is also a number of our friends who are a step behind us in life - newlyweds. So where does that put us? In the middle. We have gone through this before, when we were dating and most of our couple friends were getting married well before us. This morning in Bible class, we were studying Ecclesiastes and we discussed the "to everything there is a season" passage. While I know that this is just one season in life, it is still hard for me to accept the feeling that we suddenly ("suddenly" being a relative term) feel like we don't fit in a "group". It's sad for me at times, but I also try to remind myself that different stages in life cause healthy transitions. It's tough growing up, huh? :-)


I don't want this post to be whiny or depressing, so I will just close with the words from the passage in Ecclesiastes:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

free at last!

We finally got our fence built, and Toby is ecstatic! Ok so I don't think he really knows the difference. Maybe I am ecstatic. :-) Here are some pics of him enjoying his newfound freedom:

Toby admiring the fence

If you're wondering if Toby can fit through that gap under the fence, the answer is YES. But we've had that problem fixed since the "great escape". :-)