None of us likes to wait. We hate lines. We hate slow internet connections. We're frustrated with trips to the DMV. We live in 2014, for crying out lout! Shouldn't we have eradicated waiting like we've done with Polio?
While we may dream of eradicating waiting, the truth is, waiting is a normal part of life.
It's also an integral part of the Advent season. We talked about waiting, and specifically, how we can wait well this past Sunday. (You can listen online here if you missed it.)
I came across a great quote this morning while reading a book by John Maxwell that I wish I'd read before Sunday.
Think of the great men and women who continued to pursue their dreams into old age. Think of people like Moses, who at eighty years of age led 3.5 million people out of captivity. Or Caleb, who at eighty-five years of age said, "Give me that mountain." Or Colonel Sanders, who at seventy years of age discovered "finger lickin' good" chicken. Or Ray Kroc, who after seventy introduced a Big Mac to the world. Then there's Casey Stengel, who at seventy-five became the manager of the Yankees baseball team. And there's Picasso, still painting at eighty-eight, and George Washington Carver, who at eighty-one became head of the Agriculture Department. There's Thomas Edison, who at eighty-five invented the mimeograph machine, and John Wesley, who was still traveling on horseback and preaching at age eighty-eight.
Examples like this are powerful reminders that even thought we don't like waiting, God's got no problem with it.
Which is why we need to wait proactively, not passively. What can you do to wait proactively this week?
I'd like you to meet Gene. I'll let Gene introduce himself to you in his own words.
I've been homeless
for over 15 years. I'm a pretty popular guy. Everybody knows me and
knows that if they need something or need to know how to get something, I'm who
they ask. I always tell people they need to come to the 3rd and 4th
Saturdays at Church Builders for breakfast.
When Hub City is here things are different. The other people that cook
breakfast for us just make some food, put it out there, and then go about their
business. They don't mingle. They're not minglers. They don't
spend time with us. They make the bare minimum of food-- grits and eggs
and coffee. When it runs out, it runs out. If somebody comes in
late for breakfast and the food is gone, too bad.
When you guys are in here you're always doing something special, something
extra. You always make bacon and bring fruit. Sometimes you bring
donuts or make hot chocolate. You make so many good pancakes. And
if we run out and people are still hungry you go back to the kitchen and make
more. When a family comes in late, you find something to send home with
them so they don't go hungry. And you talk to us. My favorite part
about Saturdays is getting to talk to you guys. It's just different when
Hub City is here.
I love that!
It's stories like Gene's that are the reason Hub City Church partners with Church Builders to provide breakfast for the low income and homeless of Spartanburg. It's also why we are giving 10% of the 2014 Year End Gift Offering to purchasing food for Church Builders.
It's not about the food. It's about the relationships. The food opens the doors for relationships to happen. The food paves the way for the love of Jesus to flow through Hub City volunteers.
Every year 100% of Hub City's Year End Gift Offering is given away. This year 50% of it is going to the Crosland family to support them as missionaries in Papua New Guinea. 40% is going to Alex's House Orphanage in Haiti. 10% is staying here in Spartanburg to buy breakfast food so that we can build relationships and see lives changed.
What is your family going to give this year? Ask God, and do what he says.
You can give online or you can bring your offering with you on Sunday, December 21. Make sure to memo your gift "Year End Gift Offering."
