Waiting for the Wind

Sam Shoemaker, the "George Washington" of Faith at Work, put it about as well as anyone. In summing up the Christian life he said: get changed, get together, get going. In other words, have a transformational encounter with Jesus Christ, then surround yourself with supportive and honest spiritual companions (no Lone Rangers here), and then start sharing your gifts in meaningful ministry and service.

I applaud his summary. I often share it with others. I think it's the best summary of the Christian life to be found. In my experience, however, it did not happen in that order. Instead, I "got together" before I "got changed." During my undergraduate years at UCLA I worked for the Glendale YMCA, and thank God, it happened to be one of those "Y's" that took the "C" in its name seriously. The "Y" hired me along with three of my good friends: Rol Gillum, Roger Johnston, and Hank Giardina. Hank was a practicing Catholic, Roger a nominal Presbyterian and Rol and I were spiritually adrift. Rol and I knew God existed; we just had not been formally introduced.

Then it happened. While working at the "Y" the four of us got together regularly to discuss spiritual matters. Those discussions became my first small group experience, though not a typical small group. We did not do the "big three" (sharing, studying, praying) of small group life. We mostly did a lot of sharing, and a lot of questioning, and a little beer drinking (those were my college years!), and after "getting together" for a few months we all ended up "getting changed." Jesus Christ became real in our lives.

So, my spiritual journey played out as follows: get together, get changed and get going, and not Shoemakers' summary of the 12 Steps: get changed, get together, and get going.

The "Get Going" Challenge

The "get going" stage, however, has been a challenge. Last summer Tom Troger, an author and seminary professor, was the keynote speaker at a week-long Synod School for our denomination. During one of his presentations, Tom told of his last day as a seminary student. He described it as a beautiful spring day. He joyfully walked out of his last class, and noticed a young boy on the seminary lawn. "Hey, mister," the boy said to Tom, "see what I have?"

The boy had a kite, and he began to run like crazy, hoping to get the kite in the air, but the kite did not go up. The boy decided he had too much tail on the kite, so he ripped part of the rag-tag tail off his kite, and tried again. Still the kite did not go up. He took a little more off the tail, but with the same result. Meanwhile, the boy's older brother came by and stood next to Tom. He watched for awhile and finally said, "You have to wait for the wind."

"Oh, yeah," the young boy said, "I have to wait for the wind." As skilled as the boy was, he could not fly the kite without the wind.

Something similar happened in the early church. Jesus told them to wait for the wind of the Spirit before they "got going." "And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me, for John baptized with the water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:4-5).

We Hate to Wait

If there is any word in the English language that we Americans hate, it is the word "wait." We live in a world of fast food, express-lane shopping, overnight delivery and instant messaging. Robert Levine, in his book The Geography of Time, recommends the creation of a new unit of time: the honko-second - "the time between when the light changes and the person behind you honks his or her horn." He claims it is the smallest unit of time known to humankind.

So when I hear the words "get going," as a good American I think in "honko-seconds." I think "right now, immediately, at once." I do not often think, "Wait for the right moment. Wait for God's timing. Wait for the wind of the Spirit."

Over the years my "honko-second" mentality has gotten me into trouble. Like the boy with the kite, I've expended considerable energy attempting to do something that was impossible to do. Sometimes in the church things need to be done, but the timing is not right. Sometimes there is something that needs to be said to someone, but one needs to wait for the right moment. One needs to wait for the wind.

For the Group

1. Share a time when you had to wait for the Spirit to come or respond to a prayer or a situation, and was it worth the wait?

2. What situation are you facing that needs the empowerment of the Spirit?

Dick Meyer is the Director of the One Anothering Institute in Omaha NE and author of two books, One Anothering, Vol 1 & 2.