When the Center of Somewhere Feels Like the Middle of Nowhere

GPS.  Global Positioning System.  You would think from that vantage point, the dumb thing might actually understand where I REALLY am!

Sometimes the navigation system goes awry -and though you may not truly be ‘in the middle of nowhere’, you certainly do not recognize the middle of wherever it is you are.

More than once, my friend Gert (complete with Australian accent and vernacular) has led me to a place that was wholly unfamiliar.  Oh, sure, there were gas stations aplenty and paved streets (sorta)….but for me, it still felt like the middle of nowhere.  Desolate.  Disorienting.  Frustrating.  Frightening.

Navigating a faith journey sometimes feels like I’m on a trip with Gert.  I pull out of the driveway with complete and utter confidence.  I blindly follow the robotic ‘recalculating’ without question.  And yet, I find myself in at the center of somewhere that feels like the middle of nowhere.  I can see landmarks – proofs that I am going as I need to go.  But man, does it feel desolate sometimes…like the middle of nowhere…and no amount of recalculating will ever take me to the intended destination.

And, admittedly, I find myself doing what all frustrated drivers do….blaming the GPS.  Cursing her.  Wanting to rip her off my dash and pummel her droning voice into a million little technologically charged pieces.  Shut.Her.Up.  But I know if I do that, a) I will never find my way to the right location, and b) I have squandered my investment.

So I continue to make the instructed turns – “in point three miles, turn left” – and trust that, from a much broader perspective than the one I have behind the wheel, Someone knows where I’m going.

Waiting Vs. Wasting

“Sometimes waiting turns to wasting.”

And with those words, Jesus rocked my world through Katie’s wisdom once again!

Our family has been in a holding pattern for a LOT longer than we ever anticipated when this journey was thrust upon us by God.  And it was very evident early on that it would be a significant wait…much like that time you went to the doctor’s office and got there on time for your early-morning appointment and still missed an entire day of work.

You remember the appointment, right?  A minor annoyance at first, you watched the clock and wondered exactly how long you’d be there.  As you settled in to an uncomfortable seat and hoped you wouldn’t catch what anyone else had, you began to plan out your adjusted calendar for the day.  As you realized even the most well-adjusted calendar wouldn’t be happening THAT day, you sent a few e-mails or texts from your smart phone and just resolved yourself to the wait.  And at some point, waiting became wasting as you picked up magazines you would never read on a normal day, took quizzes that assessed stuff you didn’t really care about, and counted something, anything, in an effort to occupy the ticking moments until your name was called.

And when finally your name was called, relief washed over you…partially because the wait had taken SO DADGUM LONG…and partially because your brain was turning to mush as you migrated from waiting to wasting.

Sometimes waiting on God is necessary, though annoying and uncommonly painful.  And sometimes, we allow ourselves to unwittingly drift from waiting to wasting.  Don’t waste the time God is waxing silent or slow, as some would define slow.  Be ‘active’ in the wait.  Seek the truths God wants to teach you.  Lean into the significance of stillness.  And when it’s time, let relief consume as your name is called…not because you’ve been wasting….but because the wait is over.