
I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait.
CS Lewis
We hate to wait.
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For food, packages, a new release, a green light, promotions, results, a call, an answer…
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We hate to wait.
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Knowing this, Robert Samuel saw an opportunity.
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Robert once worked for a local AT&T store in New York City. Consequently, he witnessed the frenzy around a new iPhone release. So, in 2012, he put an ad on Craigslist (remember Craigslist?!), offering to wait in line for anyone, someone. A person responded. And that person paid Robert $325 to wait in line for 15 hours! That day, Robert Samuel’s business, Same Ole Line Dudes (S.O.L.D.), was born.
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Today, the company is no longer just one dude. Samuel has about 30 dudes or dudettes who wait in line for other people—no matter how long it takes—averaging 15 bookings a week and sometimes making up to $14,000 per event.
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If you visit their About Us, you’ll learn that they call themselves New York's Premier Team of Professional Line Sitters. Their primary aim is to reduce your wait for anything New York City has to offer. Whether it's iPhones, the latest Air Jordans, or the hottest Broadway tickets in town, Same Ole Line Dudes proclaim that they understand your wants and needs and that they are here to help.
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Meaning, they know we hate to wait and are therefore willing to earn a living doing the waiting for us. Genius.
Unfortunately, we can’t always "pay for waiting" (as odd as that sounds); waiting will inevitably worm itself into our lives. As Dr. Seuss would put it: Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea, get ready for the waiting place, a place for people just…waiting.
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Waiting for a train to go,
Or a bus to come, or a plane to go,
Or the mail to come, or the rain to go,
Or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow,
Or waiting around for a Yes or No,
Or waiting for their hair to grow.
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A place where everyone is just…waiting.
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Waiting for the fish to bite,
Or waiting for wind to fly a kite,
Or waiting around for Friday night,
Or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake,
Or a pot to boil, or a Better Break,
Or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants,
Or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
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Yes, waiting is in our future, if waiting is not our present state. And we will most definitely hate that waiting.
But what if…
What if that waiting place is exactly where God wants us?
If that's true, then the real question has little to do with when we’ll leave the waiting place, and more to do with what kind of people we’ll be during and after the waiting place.
Eons ago, Joseph—the coat-of-many-colors-Joseph—found himself in prison. Mind you, this was after getting jumped and beaten by his brothers, sold into human trafficking by those same brothers, and then falsely accused and thereby wrongfully imprisoned.
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It was there, in the dark pit of a prison reality, that Joseph was left…waiting.
Waiting not for weeks or months, but for years!
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Yet, Joseph was exactly where God wanted him to be. It was in prison where Joseph would have a "chance" encounter—an encounter that could have only happened in that prison—and that encounter is what eventually led Joseph to the highest position of placement and power there was in the world at that time: side-by-side with the Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 37-50). Â
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In that same vein, years later, Jesus found himself in the prison of death. Mind you, this was after being betrayed, beaten, tortured, falsely accused and thereby wrongfully killed by those he created and loved dearly.
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And it was there, in the dark pit of a grave, that Jesus was left…waiting.
Waiting not for seconds or minutes, but for three days!
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Yet, it was exactly where God wanted him to be. It was in and through Jesus’ death that God would lead Jesus to the highest position of placement and power there is and forever will be—side-by-side with the Father in Heaven, having the name that is now above all names, whether seen or unseen, and now offering new life and hope to all those who believe (Phil 2:1-11).
What we learn from both Joseph and Jesus is that often, when we find ourselves in the waiting place, we’re exactly where God wants us to be. Because so often it is in and through—and only in and through—the waiting place that God can prepare us for what he has in store on the other side.
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Therefore, the real question has less to do with when we’ll leave the waiting place, and more to do with what kind of people we’ll be during and after the waiting place.
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Both Joseph and Jesus remained patient and prepared—faithful—for what God had in store on the other side of the waiting place.
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What about us?
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We might find ourselves in a dark pitstop along a journey of unexpected twists, tragedies, or travesties. We might be in a dark place of indefinite waiting. However, when it comes to our character, conduct, and confession (and our gifts)…will we remain patient and prepared? Will we remain faithful?
After all, only God knows what he has in store for us on the other side of the waiting place.
JDG
This was something I really needed to hear this week.