Have you ever had to wait when you didn’t have time to do so? Several years ago, when I still owned my company, I was unnecessarily delayed at my office, and it frustrated me immensely.
Immediately, I left the facility and began an internal audit. As a recovering perfectionist, I began an exercise that had been beneficial to me. I attempted to quantify the qualitative. I deduced that if I could quantify the amount of time that had passed while I had been waiting, then I could let go of the frustration (the qualitative) that had ripped through my heart and body. I looked at my watch and determined how long it had taken for me to get upset due to the delay in my schedule. The answer was: two minutes. That was all it took for me to feel the sense of frustration begin to rise.
Behind the wheel of my sport utility vehicle, I exited Kruse Auction Park to meet my wife for a long overdue date. I made it about a mile and a half to a bridge when I encountered four people looking over its edge. Subconsciously, I pulled over and rolled down my window.
“Do you need a cell phone?” I asked.
“No, there’s somebody down there,” one responded.
“Okay.”
“No. No. No,” one of the others stepped forward. “A northbound truck just crossed the center line and drove over the bridge. We just called EMS, and they are on their way.”
I tried to take in what they had just said. Meanwhile a friend, who was an officer, arrived and began to look inside the truck that was upside down.
“How long ago did the truck cross the line?” I asked.
“Oh, about two minutes ago.”
It is difficult to describe the feeling that resonated inside me at that moment. I realized that had I not been delayed, this truck could have hit me, possibly ending my life. Once I recognized that everything was under control, I pulled away and headed toward my house.
I sensed God speaking to me, not in an audible voice, but from within my heart. I believed He communicated that He was going to take my changed heart, transformed desires, and renewed three resources of my life to become a direct carrier of the message of authentic restoration.
David, who had to wrestle with God’s delay in transferring Israel’s monarchy from Saul to him, penned: “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). The Hebrew word for wait, qavah, carries an active, not passive, connotation. In essence, it is serving God right where we are.
Is it possible that God has created an unexpected delay in your life? Whether it’s two minutes, two weeks, two months, two years, or even two decades, quantify the qualitative. Measure your wait. Then surrender any frustration to God and serve Him right where you are. He will use you to bring His restoration to others.
Episode 16: Restoring Others: Every Encounter is a Three-Way Call from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.
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