Prom night

About a week ago, my best friend and I travelled to Valley Fair in Shakopee, Minnesota.  Every last second of the four hour drive was spent talking; most of it streaming from a passage from 2 Corinthians.  We eventually strayed pretty far from what Paul was saying to the people in Corinth and started talking about things that came into our minds.  We somehow came on the topic of people asking for help from God, but not being patient enough or too stubborn to hear what God actually says in response to those prayers.  I likened it to a prom night.

The young boy is waiting patiently for his date to come down the stairs in her dress.  While he's waiting, he endures an awkward time of sitting with the parents and waiting for the thing he came to see--the beautiful young lady he came to pick up walk down the stairs.  The boy doesn't leave because of the awkward waiting time, for he knows that his prize is to take the young lady out and show her a great time.  Finally, the time comes.  He hears her step down the first step, and rushes, not too anxiously, to the bottom of the stairs to watch her finish her descent.  Her dress barely skimming the top of each stair, eyes sparkling, and hair in perfect order, he looks up and smiles, knowing that his wait time was more than worth it.

Why can't we wait for God like the boy waits for his date?  Of course we all know the waiting time with her parents is one of the most awkward things ever.  But he stays.  Why is it that when we ask God for something, we're not willing to wait that awkward time for him to answer?  And even when He does answer, if it's not what we want, we simply pawn it off as a "thought" that happened to come into our head.  Ladies and gentlemen, if we want to hear what God is saying, we first must be willing to run with whatever He answers with.  That's a huge proposition.

Sometimes the thing that God answers with is exactly 180 degrees from what we want Him to answer with.  And we don't like that.  We have everything planned out in our heads and we just want God to be ok with whatever we want.  News flash.  It doesn't work that way.  We have to be ready for what He says, and run with it.

Be the boy on prom night.  Wait through the awkwardness for the ultimate prize; God's guidance in your life.