Waiting is Hard to Do

So my lovely bride and I made the drive from Lexington, KY to Augusta, GA last night ... Her father is having heart surgery today, so we came down to be here for that major event. Her brother from Michigan and his wife met up with us in Lexington, so we could all carpool down.

After arriving at 1 am this morning, we were awakened by my bride's parents at 4:30 as they were getting ready to head to the hospital for pre-op. We then lay back down for another hour prior to getting ready and heading out the door shortly after 7 am ... We arrived at the hospital in time to have a prayer session with my bride's father, mother, brother, sister-in-love, my bride, and me ... Her dad was then given his first round of sedation meds and rolled down the hall at 8:20 for surgery.

We headed to the surgical waiting area and found some seats to get settled in for the next 6 hours (the scheduled time for the surgery) ... Unfortunately, a few minutes later, a nurse came in and said a Cath Lab emergency had pushed our surgery back at least 4 hours. Oh, waiting is hard to do!

It seems to me we are often in "wait" mode ... Waiting on a paycheck so we can pay some bills. Waiting on God's answer to our "urgent" prayer request. Waiting on approval of that loan, that college application, that job promotion. "Hurry up and wait" seems to be the American model.

I'm not sure what has caused this "epidemic" of waiting ... Maybe in our effort to make life easier, we've become so successful at the "instant gratification lifestyle" we are actually moving faster than God intended. Maybe the waiting is God's way to show us He remains in control, and all our best plans are futile if He isn't included.

Regardless of the why, I sit here in a hospital waiting room this morning, waiting on another patient's surgery to finish so my father-in-law can once again be wheeled back for his procedure. And after that occurs, we will continue to wait the 4 to 6 hours it will take for his surgical procedure. And if that isn't enough, we will then wait the hour or more while he is in recovery, waking up enough the staff will let us go back and see him.

So here I sit ... Waiting is hard to do !!