Ever have a moment where a passing comment by a complete stranger rocks your entire day?
This is me yesterday; I left a job interview (which went splendid, I got the job! Glory to God), and ran to walmart to grab something I needed (of which I can not remember now, mustn't have been that important), as I neared the front doors (I should add I was in a suit as I work at a men's suit store.) an older gentleman was coming out of the doors, which in and of itself is not that surprising. However, what caught me off guard as I went to wish the standard, "Good day" salutation to the gentleman he looked at me, and with a slight chuckle, and years with experiences I can not fathom, simply stated "Can we ever stop rushing, do we ever slow down?".
This struck me in an odd way; maybe it was an older man who looked in his retirement years stating how busy life was, maybe it was the way the statement caught me as life has been hectic and busy for me lately (I recently got in to a business program so the getting ready to move process is in full effect), I'm not 100% sure exactly why such a statement stuck out to me, but it did.
Now, enough of my run-on sentences, extensive commas, and colons, and long winded stories. Oh, and the extensive use of parenthesis (for those that don't know, it's the brackets around certain phrases, like this one).
I feel this question is one we should ask ourselves, regularly, if not frequently. "Can we stop rushing, can we slow down?". We live in a society of FAST food, INSTANT coffee, INSTANT noodles. The faster something is, the more convenient things are, the happier we are? If our Double Big Mac is not waiting for us the minute we enter the front doors, we get tense; waiting in line for anything for hours? Yeah right! (Unless you're one of those Macfreaks), and the list goes on.
Side note: I have nothing against Apple, I'm writing on a Macbook right now. I just think sitting in line for two days for a phone is silly. But hey, to each his own.
Back to this thought; we have a society that demands instant gratification. If we aren't satisfied right now, having everything our way, we get livid. I've had a lot of jobs, most of them in customer service; one such job was delivering pizza. It's possibly one of my least favourite jobs, just to make that clear. I'll give a break down of what happens when you order a pizza.
Pick Up
-Come in/Call in
-Some calls can last longer with questions like "what kind of pizza do you have?" "what's good?" "what's your specials?" and so on. And yes, people ask us to list all our toppings and pizzas, and then all the toppings on the specialty pizza. So this slows things down.
-Once this is all done your information is confirmed, and we send it through on the computer.
-Now assuming it isn't busy it shows up on the make line screen to be made. I've seen the screen so full, that twenty pizzas later it was still filling up. That 8-10 minutes bake time, the pizza needs to get in the oven first.
-So your pizza has been made! And is now coming out of the oven. The food is boxed, and finished however it's supposed to be (cut, garnished, etc).
Delivery
-Take all of the above, and now another person collects your order, checks your address and heads to their vehicle. This is assuming it isn't busy as crap, and they can get to it that quickly.
-They get your order, step in to their vehicle, and get ready to get to your home as quickly as possible. This is where most of our tickets and accidents happen.
-They arrive at your house, and if all goes well, one knock or door bell and the door is answered, it's really awesome when people are waiting for you. I've had to call a customer, knock, ring a doorbell, and then they get mad when they had to wait. Answer your door or be waiting please haha.
-We hand you food, which some people take their time handling, and then deal with payment, which also can take some time if the machine is being finicky, or we don't have the exact change.
-Now after this is all said and done, we get back to our car and rush back to the store to do it all over again.
Think of this the next time you have to wait more than 20 minutes for delivery; it takes about 10 minutes to make the pizza, and then we have to drive it to your house, however far it is.
Now that I'm down a semi-educational rant, back to our point. We want things to us so quickly that the idea of waiting makes us mad. We get tense in church when the pastor reaches one minutes over an hour, waiting a couple minutes for coffee is absurd. However in the bible, the greatest breakthrough, the biggest growth, the most monumental revelation, arrived through yes, waiting. In Isaiah 40 we're told
"those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they mount up on wings like eagles,They shall run and not grow weary,They shall walk and not faint" ( NKJV Is.40:31)
There's a story in John 5:1-9 that tells of a man waiting for healing,
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. (NKJV Jn 5:1-9)
Where are our priorities? Are we willing to wait for the good things in life? Wait for the promises of God, there's a lot of them. The bible is littered with promises, the broadest, and possibly the strongest that sticks out in my mind is Jeremiah 29:11-13. I won't bother quoting the passage it's so well known. If you don't know it, I absolutely encourage you to look it up. God has many good things for you, don't lose heart. The old proverb, "good things come to those who wait", couldn't be more true. I like what James has to say,
Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. (NKJV Jm 5:7)
I ask that God would help us examine our hearts, that we would see where our priorities are. I would ask that we were able to set our gaze upon Him, and remain strong and faithful this day against all life's troubled times. We would never lose heart in times that appear desperate and hopeless. That we would be a people of waiting, and a people of expectancy. And that we would have the strength to endure all. That we would be able to slow down, and rest in the still, quiet place where God meets us. That we could quiet down to hear His voice, and have the wisdom to listen.
