Being in the waiting room is not an easy task. Whether we are waiting for a relationship, a raise at our job, or just waiting for something in our life to happen, we don’t like waiting.
If you already had the experience of getting your driver’s license, you will remember the feeling of excitement that rushed through your body once your name was called at that cubicle. Personally, I remember it as if it was yesterday! I called my parents and told them, “Remember how you guys didn’t let me drive when I lived at home? Well, now I get to drive in the States… and not in those small streets like in Colombia, NO BAYBY!!! I get to go on the freeway and everything.” It was the coolest feeling ever, for a minute it kind of felt like the world was mine. However, I must admit that I had some obstacles in the way of getting my license (mainly the fact that I didn’t know how to drive). I didn’t live at home, so it wasn’t like I could tell my dad, “Hey Dad can I drive you to the store?” Or “Hey Dad what about if you let me get us home once we enter the neighborhood.” I was living with the Guajardo’s (my host family at the time), and even though they are lovely people, it felt uncomfortable to ask them if they would allow me to drive. The second time they let me drive us from school to the house I almost wrecked the car. The third time, I hit about 6 curves on the way home, and just when we were about to get home I almost wrecked against a truck. (You can imagine how awful it was to ask for driving privileges again) but I didn’t let that awkward feeling stop me from getting to my goal. I knew that I wanted to have my license, and knowing how to drive was kind of important to get it, so I pushed past it and I kept asking. After a couple of weeks, I was doing a decent job at driving, but an awful job at parallel parking. The family’s schedule started to get a little busy, so they didn’t have time to teach me how to park. Nonetheless, my friend (whose name happens to be Juan too) had gotten his license the year before, so guess what I did? Exactly! I bugged him nonstop until he allowed me to practice in his car how to parallel park. Finally, I felt ready to schedule my test. I went online and if I remember correctly, I scheduled it for February 13th. I was the happiest person on earth because finally, I would get to have my license and drive my car (I had bought a cash car from a friend two weeks earlier). When the day came, the Guajardo’s told me that all the cars were going to be taken and informed me that I couldn’t use my car because the tags were expired. I called Juan to ask him if I could use his car, but he was on the other side of town doing who knows what. It felt as if my world was falling. I looked online and the next date available was 2 weeks from that day. What do I do? Should I just wait another 2 weeks? NO!!! my mind yelled; you have not exhausted all your resources. My other option was to call Cecilia (Juan’s host mom) and ask her if she would let me present my test in her fancy car. Many times, she had told me that if I needed something I could count on her. But this? Man, I felt like this was a little too much. My mind brought to memory a quote that my brother had told me when I was growing up. “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are” So I swallowed my pride and called her. To not make the story long, let’s just say that presenting a driving test has never been easier. That car basically drove itself! And a couple of hours later I called my family to tell them what you read above.
The eagerness I had to have my license was unmeasurable, but the truth is that no matter how much I wanted it, Would I had not prepared myself for the test I would be writing a post about learning from our failures instead of the importance of the waiting season. “Be somebody before you do something.” I came up with this quote to remind myself that to get what I want; I need to become the type of person who has that thing. It doesn’t matter how much I want to have a virtuous wife if I don’t become the type of husband who deserves a virtuous wife. It doesn’t matter how much I want a raise at my job if I don’t add the necessary skills to my bag to get a raise. Waiting is not easy, but it is purposeful. Once we realize this getting to the goal is not as important as the process, and that’s where the magic happens. I needed to be a driver before I could get the thing that said I am a driver, NBA players need to become NBA material before they are drafted, and millionaires get to handle millions because they learned how to handle pennies. If we stop focusing on the end goal and focus on who we need to become to get that goal our lives will be revolutionized. We are not waiting because God likes to see how miserable it makes us to not have what we want. We are in the waiting because we are not ready for what we are asking, and God knows that if he gives it to us, it will crush us. Paying the price of change is hard, but isn’t everything hard? Being healthy is hard, being unhealthy is hard. Being a good steward is hard, being unorganized is hard. Being wise is hard, being ignorant is hard. Following God’s way is hard, following your way is hard. EVERYTHING IS HARD… SO CHOOSE YOUR HARD. We can sit and complain during the waiting season while we hope that miraculously something will happen, or we can get ourselves busy and question every day; What else can I add to my bag that would make getting there easier? God has a beautiful way of doing the impossible, and that’s why I like my brother’s quote so much. The only thing that I need to focus on is doing what I can, with what I have, where I am at. The rest is God’s problem and not mine. When Peter walked on water Jesus told him “Come” and that was it (Matthew 14:29). Could Peter make himself walk on water? No, but he did what he could, and that was to get his feet off the boat and put them in the water. The rest was Jesus’ problem. What you desire may seem impossible to get, and that is beautiful. Because it is not on you to make the impossible possible, but on God. Did I think Cecilia was going to let me drive her Audi for my test? No, but I just did what I could and that was to call her.
It took me 12 years to see my dream of coming to the States to play basketball become a reality. Many times I asked myself; “Bro what else am I needing to do?” I train religiously, I am disciplined, I eat right, I am getting better. Etc. However, one time my mom told me; “Juan don’t you think that if you want to go to the States you should learn the language?” The next day I switched the language of my favorite show to English, and 2 years later I was flying to Houston, Texas to play basketball for a High School. My parents gave me the opportunity to learn English when I was 12, but at the time I wasn’t interested. When I quit my dad said to me, “If in the future you would like to learn English, you would have to figure out how you can do it because I already gave you the opportunity and you didn’t want it.” I could’ve sat and complained that I needed to go to an institute for me to learn English, or do what I could, with what I have, where I am at. Why did God want me to learn English before I came here? I don’t know, but he knows, and I rest on that.
Perhaps today you are finding yourself in the waiting season, and I want you to know that I totally agree with you in the fact that it is painful to be in the waiting. However, I want to invite you to grab pen and paper and meditate on who you need to become for you to have that desire of your heart. Then, do what you can, with what you have, where you are. God will take care of the rest.
It makes me happy to be able to share a little bit of my world with the people who read my posts. I make mistakes every day, I struggle, and certainly, I am far from perfection. However, I’ve found that it is not on me to carry with my burdens and Jesus offers me the freedom I’ve been looking for. I want to encourage you to seek a relationship with him! Life is not perfect, and it will never be, but with him is meaningful.