Latest / Coaching For Life / Episode 3: Waiting Well

Transcript

Episode 3: Waiting Well · Coaching For Life

• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Monty Williams.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Will Davis.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Coaching for Life podcast, a conversation that we pray encourages you to pursue the Christ Center Life.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Will Davis, and it's always a gift to be with my good friend Monty Williams.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And today, Monty, I want us to jump right into our conversation on waiting.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically waiting on God, you know, as we talked about in our last podcast on pride.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is another area waiting that we all struggle with.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Waiting is is hard.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am not good at waiting.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: My wife Kara can testify to this.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I get grumpy if I'm stuck in traffic, or if I happen to pick the longer checkout line at the grocery store.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And in the big scheme of life, I mean these are smaller things.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we wait when it comes to the bigger things?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Can you speak to a story from your past when when you had to trust as you found yourself in God's waiting room?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I the one thing that sticks out to me, I've had to wait on a number of things in my life, as we all do.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't have a corner on that market, but at a pivotal time in my life, uh when I was away from home, uh went to college in 1989, I was a young uh freshman.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: I was 17 years old when I got to school and uh played uh basketball at at the University of Notre Dame and had a you know pretty good year for a freshman.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then at the beginning of my sophomore year in the summer, um I had a routine physical that took place, and you know, most of the time you just go through a few tests and you get back on the court and it it's no big deal.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they found that I had a a heart condition called HCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: And from that point on, after being diagnosed with that, I was done playing basketball, and I was I was done for two years.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: And before that, um there was there was a notion um in the undercurrent of basketball back then that I was one of those kids that had a chance to go hardship, which was which meant you gave up your scholarship to go pro.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: And after my sophomore year, my my uh my high school coach, and and soon uh to realize my college coaches were gonna, you know, lose me, but that all came to um an abrupt end, uh uh or pause, if you will.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it was such a pivotal time in my life because I I gave my life to the Lord or came to know Jesus at 10.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh full disclosure, I had no idea what that meant.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: I was I went to a church, uh Riverside Baptist Church in in Fort Foot, Maryland, and uh the Lord touched my heart at a young age.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, had no idea what it was like to walk in victory and and bear fruit for the Lord.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: I just it was more religious than relationship and went through most of my teenage years with a lot of religious attitudes and idols in my life, and and got to college and and there was this pause, if you will.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: And during that time, I had met uh a really good friend who became my girlfriend and became the mother of five of my kids.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that was the first time that I saw a young person living it out um in a practical way.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: And so all these things happened around the same time.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: I had to stop playing basketball, was dealing with the idea of having a disease, um, knowing in in in part how shallow my walk was, especially when I met her.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I'll never forget after the press conference um when everybody found out that I was done.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: I went, I left the press conference and walked straight to her room and told her what happened because she didn't know.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: She uh knew I was working out, but she didn't know.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't tell her about the testing and all that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: I just thought I was gonna be able to play again, and I just kept it to myself.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: And then I told her what was going on.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'll never forget.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: She told me, she looked me in the eyes.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: She had been crying and emotional uh with me, and she looked me in the eyes and she said, Monty, Jesus can heal your heart.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: And at that time, I was just like, great, because I just want to play basketball again.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: I I I had no intention of uh growing in Christ or anything like that.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought it would happen like right away.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um we started going to church again.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um we even went to crusades and stuff like that.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: And and you know, we we were just like, Lord, like do what the word says, you know.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_03: And what ended up happening will um change my life because God um was doing a lot in terms of stripping down some idols in my life.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Basketball had become my idol.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: My goal was to just go to the NBA, get paid, and do the NBA thing.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um I had no intention of growing in the Lord.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_03: I had no intention of uh going to church um at school.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: My whole intention going to college was to play ball and have a good time.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: And then I met this girl uh who changed, who God used to change my life, but it didn't happen overnight.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: It was a a two-year wait.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just went to school.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the emotion of the the whole situation came to a settling, if you will, and I just became a normal student.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and she and I uh spent a lot of time walking around the campus, um, talking a lot about the Lord, about the future, and my status changed.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the phone stopped ringing, and I just became Monty.
• 6:39
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that was a tough thing for me because when you play basketball at a somewhat of a high level in high school, you you begin to take on a different identity.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the two years away from basketball, uh, God began to show me in part where my heart was and the crustiness of my heart.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: And if I kept on that path, uh I was probably headed for uh destruction in in so many ways.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so to make a long story shorter than I've made it, um, two years go by and I get a call from the athletic department, and they said, Hey, we just want you to go to the National Institute of Health just to kind of see where you are.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: And we had prayed for healing, we prayed for you know, all the things that the scriptures talk about, but it didn't happen overnight.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so we go, uh I go to NIH, I spend three or four days there, and they they basically put me through a lot, um, all kinds of tests that just show uh the doctors where I was.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: And at the end of uh three or four days, um, they couldn't find anything wrong with my heart.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it was a long wait.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: But in the midst of the waiting um for two years, God was doing so many things in my life that I couldn't even quantify or account for back then.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we started going to church.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we were under uh Pat and BJ Magley, who were members at New Wings of Faith uh church in South Bend, Indiana.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: Every Sunday, Ingrid and I were getting her crusty Honda Civic.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_03: If I if I stomped down on the floor too hard, I would have gone through the the floor like the Flintstones.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's how old this thing was.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um we began to uh come under people who were older, grizzled, wiser believers, and in the midst of the waiting, something started to change in my life.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing that was pivotal in my life, my granddad, who was um a pastor in North Carolina for 50 plus years, I remember talking to him on the phone, and he gave me the first verse um that had an impact on my life.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: I'd read the Bible a little bit, but didn't really understand what I was reading.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'd gone to church, heard sermons, teaching, but this was the first time in the waiting where someone gave me a verse that had an impact on my life, and it was Isaiah 40, 31.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_03: And that verse has been an anchor for me for many, many years.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so we we would be here all day talking about that that two-year uh period of waiting.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um it wasn't pleasant.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: There was a lot of rough days.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um I almost got thrown out of school twice uh during that two-year period for fighting.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um that wasn't the only time that I got caught fighting back then.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: I got I got into a few situations, and and people that went to Notre Dame back then would tell you that um there were days where people weren't quite sure I was gonna make it.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um it'd be great to sit here and tell you that this waiting period was smooth and there was this trajectory of progress, but there were a lot of uh, I wouldn't say peaks, there were a lot of valleys.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah uh there was depression, there was anxiety, um, there was a lot of God stripping down things in my life to reveal to me that I was off course.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: And in his graciousness and kindness, um Ingrid was uh an angel, if you will.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Pat and BJ were mentors.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the Gongwer family and their home out in Wakarusa, Indiana, was a refuge.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: And Brian Bulach, who was the assistant A D, uh, was a bit of a uh a savior for me because he was the one when I got in trouble at school for fighting, he was the one that just shuck down the corn for me.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: He said, Mont, look, you got to cut it out because you're gonna get thrown out of school.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I think so many times in our walk as Christians, we have these segments of our lives where God is doing something in in the waiting.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we we we tend to paint this positive portrait of what it could be.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just I don't I can't speak for anybody else.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: I know for myself, mine's was um positive at times, but ugly for the most part, as God was stripping and stripping and stripping away.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so after I go to NIH, I come back, um, I'm back on the team, I play really well, I make team USA in the summer, I do a lot of cool things, and then I become a first-round draft pick.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but there was a waiting that had to take place, and that was a foundational time in my life, yeah, however ugly at times, where God used it to get me back to a place of somewhat surrender, yeah, um, somewhat understanding, somewhat stripping down some idols, somewhat um uh changing the course of my life.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: I know that was a long story, but when we talk about waiting, that's the one time among many times in my life where I was waiting on the Lord, and and and to be totally honest, I wasn't quite sure it was gonna work out the way that I wanted it to.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: And to be straight, it didn't.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if if it would have worked out the way that I wanted it to, I would have gone to Ingrid's room, told her about what happened, gone to church the next week, been healed, and just moved on with my life.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: It didn't work out that way.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: And um, as I as I conveyed, there were a lot of tough, tough, tough, tough days.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't understand it, but God in his graciousness brought uh me, uh my family, and um brought Ingrid and I so much closer together.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um there were certain people in my life back then that I thought I could trust, and I found out I couldn't.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the phone stopped ringing, all the pats on the back went away.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and there were a lot a number of other things that went on that we don't have time to talk about.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: But God was so good uh to bring me through those dark days and valleys.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: And um my granddad sharing that verse with me um was it was it was the first time that somebody gave me a verse that stuck with me in a way that had never stuck with me before.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for sharing that uh that powerful testimony.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was a challenging two years uh as God stripped away what had become an idol.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I really appreciate your honesty.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and the Lord brought healing, which you know isn't always uh guaranteed, uh, but we praise God for that healing that took place in your life.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and I think you brought up uh an important principle when it comes to waiting, that it's okay to wrestle in the waiting.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: God is okay with that.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you brought up Isaiah 40.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think ultimately we also have to rest in promises like Isaiah 55, another verse in Isaiah.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have to trust in his plans, uh, which are greater and higher than our plans.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: Can I compliment that too with Deuteronomy 29, 29?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the secret things belong to God.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think we live in this world of Christianity, and I think the if if we're honest, like intellect, yeah.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: Where we think we have to know everything, and I think that diminishes who God is.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like if we know, you know, if I can if I can know everything about God, then is he is he really who the scriptures say he is?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: Is he really the ancient of days?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_03: Is he really the lifter of my head?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: And so I I hate I didn't want to cut you off, but that just came like right away.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: I started thinking about Deuteronomy 29, 29.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: And you think about the life of Job, like Job was he was going through it.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: And God never answered his question in in Job 38.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: God just tells him who he is.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I thought that was as I've gotten older, that that's been more amazing to me.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like God didn't answer Job in the way that Job wanted him to answer him.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he just said, This is who I am.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: He said, Brace yourself.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: And he didn't give him the answer.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: And I I remember going through grief share years ago when I lost uh when Ingrid went on to be with the Lord and I and and the lady who ran our class, her name was Janice Young, and she said something to me that just stuck with me forever.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: She said, Monty, if God told you why all this happened, it doesn't necessarily mean you'd understand it.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, Whoa.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: You know.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so when you said that, it just brought it just like flooded me with some of the stuff that you know we've we've waded through.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: You and I both have shared like things in our lives.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: We've just been like, man, like Lord, like, what is this, man?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, and we we thank God that we can find in the scripture a lot of testimonies that that help us and and that we we can look to as we struggle with waiting.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and one of the characters that we're gonna look at a little bit today is the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God was going to judge God's people through the Babylonians.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk is wondering, okay, Lord, how long is this going to last?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he knew that God was also going to eventually punish the Babylonians, but Habakkuk cried out in chapter one, verse two, How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we know some are listening today that may resonate with Habakkuk's cry.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And they've been wrestling with God's plan for their lives, and they're waiting and they're wondering, God, when are you going to come through for me?
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: When are you going to answer my prayer?
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I know as we talked leading up to this conversation, you brought up uh a great example from the life of Moses that that greatly helps us and the waiting.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, Exodus 40, uh verses 36 and 37, um, the Bible says, throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And it just reminds you, um, in the midst of the waiting, that we have to be prayerful, um, diligently prayerful about when to make a decision, uh, when to move, when to stay put, when to walk away, when to stay.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I I can just tell you, man, the times in my life where I've reacted out of emotion, um without praying, without wise counsel, without um talking to people that were loving enough to tell me the truth based on the scriptures, not what they thought based on what they knew came from the Lord.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um you find yourself getting into trouble.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: You find yourself getting in the worst place in the world next to hell is being out of God's will.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: Is that you you you just run into stuff that's that wasn't for you.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: And it's usually outside of your assignment, outside of your purpose.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: And this this scripture is is one of the first, you know, not the first, but it's it's one of those vivid um depictions of God's provision of direction.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just imagine what it was like for the Israelites a fire and a cloud.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: And when those things moved, they moved.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: When they stayed, they stayed.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_03: And that was it.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_03: And as I've grown uh in part a little bit in the Lord, um, we have the Holy Spirit.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: That that is our fire and our cloud.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: We have the word.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: And at times, uh God has used people like yourself when I'm dealing with something, or I'm just like, man, I'm I'm off on this.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: Will I like what's what's going on?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I can call you, and even if you don't have the answer, we we pray.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like I don't think there's ever been a time where you and I have gotten off the phone where we haven't prayed.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: It I could count on one hand.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um during those times, um, I found at 54 years old, man, I wish I would have um practiced this in my twenties.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I didn't, I don't God didn't give me uh the the fire.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he didn't give me a cloud, but he's given me his scriptures, he's given me um wise counsel in my life, and and most importantly, he's given me his spirit.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: And there have been times I think you and I can attest to um I don't think I've ever heard anything audibly from the Lord, but there's been strong impressions on my heart where God's like, you need to go say you're sorry.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Or you need to be quiet.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_03: Don't make that phone call.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Don't send that text.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just a strong impression.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I know it's from the Lord because it's always it tends to be something that goes against my flesh and it tends to be something that's uh more loving than I want to be at that present time.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it's hard when you are younger, like when we're in our twenties, now now we're both in in our fifties.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but you know, I I so appreciate you your story and your testimony from from that period at Notre Dame when you had to wait on the Lord, but you knew now looking back that God was working in the waiting.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think about how he allows certain things in our lives in order to refine us and sanctify us.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think about Joseph in the Old Testament.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: In in Genesis 40 he was wrongly placed into prison and while he's there Pharaoh's cupbearer is thrown into prison as well and Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh's cupbearer.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And just before the cupbearer is restored to his position, Joseph grabbed him and said, Remember me.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Basically help me to get out of here when you're restored to a position of power right next to Pharaoh.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the cupbearer forgot about Joseph and Joseph had to wait two more years.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: We see that right at the beginning of Genesis 41.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: But God didn't forget about Joseph even though the cupbearer did God was using that waiting for those two years to further shape Joseph and prepare him for that eventual role as as prime minister of Egypt.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the other day I was talking to our two college kids about this subject and I asked them how they deal with waiting and my son Jack said as we wait we can't be so focused on our future that we waste what God might be trying to do in our present.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: So let's not waste the here and now let's Jack these kids are so wise man it just blows me away I'm around your kids I'm I'm like holy toes man these kids are amazing.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jack said that's awesome and then another thing he he said is like you know let's not waste the pain that we might be experiencing.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know God has us in that waiting room of life for a reason we know this life is hard we know this world is broken but we can't get ahead of of what God might be trying to do in our life in order to sanctify us and make us more like Jesus.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think another principle along with the not wasting the present waiting on God we know that he's working in the waiting another thing we can do in the waiting is is to watch for the Lord and and I love that that principle of of watching for the Lord that we also see in the book of Habakkuk and Habakkuk 21 uh I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts I will look to see what he will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
• 25:11
  unknown: Yeah.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: So how do we how do we watch?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: How do we we wait in the middle of in the middle of the suffering in the midst of the struggle how do we wait and watch?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: Can I just one just go back a little bit the the cupbearer thing is something that um stands out to me because I I if if young people are listening and some some older folks can attest to this and they be they may be dealing with it.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: We we have to be really careful young people of networking.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: There's nothing wrong with building good relationships but I what I've seen in coaching and and when I get a chance to talk to young people in the corporate world there's a negative side of networking that can become an idol.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: And you tend to replace waiting on God and his plan for your life with building your future on your ability to connect with people that you think have power.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that is something that I've just I learned uh from Coach Pop years ago like he would just tell us and and Coach Nate used to say do the same thing Nate McMillan he would just say do your job like don't don't go to this event and that event and try to talk to Larry Bird or try to talk to this person or that person thinking it's going to get you a job.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like don't do that.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah people see through it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I've seen uh that a ton with young folks and it was almost like Joseph was relying more on and and who could blame him?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like he was you know put in prison he didn't do anything.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: So he's just like man exactly depression anxiety really low place he's building a relationship with someone that couldn't save him but God never forgot him.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's I think in the midst of waiting we forget who God is.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: Like we think God has forgotten about us.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: I know that that's that's been something that has plagued me time and time again.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: That could come from past history in your family somebody let you down and we tend to equate experiences with God.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: So if someone abandoned us or hurt us we think God is like that person.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: And we can't ever lose sight of the fact that God is is um his love for us is more vast and amazing than we could ever imagine and he never forgets where we are he knows exactly where we are he knows what we're going through and and and we know this because of our Lord and Savior who's gone through everything that we've gone through and Jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the Father so we know that God understands it as God the Father and so when we look at you know standing and watching like what what's what is what's a practical way that we can watch number one pray.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: The vehicle of prayer the privilege of praying is is something that we you know we just don't do enough.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: Ephesians 618 says keep on praying at all times with all kinds of prayer we used to sing that song at New Wings of Faith and I I could sing it right now but I would I would run people off and dogs would bark and birds would start running into the window.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_03: But that the the the the privilege of praying is something that I know in the moment especially when I'm struggling it's not the first thing that I think about.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: As I've gotten older it it's become you know it's moving up the the ranks if you will but as a as a watchman um it says I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts well what are we doing as we're watching we should be praying we should be seeking the Lord not a relationship not a networking group not the cool status folks that we think can get us to the next level because promotion comes from the Lord your wife your next husband that will come from the Lord if if we seek the Lord first.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: Matthew 633 says seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added there are times in my life where I know and I've seen this with younger coaches and younger people that I get to be around where they seek the cutbearer.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: They seek the relationship that they think is going to get them to where they think they should be and that that's a that's a tough road especially when it doesn't end up the way you want it to or you end up doing something that you shouldn't be doing.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah we can try to take matters into our own hands and and I'm gonna try to force the issue um instead of just resting and and waiting and and like you said looking to the Lord in prayer looking to the Lord through his word I I also uh see Psalm 130 verse six my soul waits for the Lord more than watchman for the morning more than watchman for the morning and and you see this image of of the watchman he's at his station and he's waiting for the dawn uh the dawn of a new day where God's mercies are new every morning.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: Lamentations 323 Great is thy faithfulness King David also wrote in Psalm 40 verse 1 I waited patiently for the Lord he inclined and heard my cry.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's such a great reminder today that when we cry out to God, he hears us we can trust in his promises most of our life seems to be spent waiting.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know we can't wait to get our driver's license we can't wait to graduate we can't wait to start a career we can't wait to get married and to have children and then to retire and we get so caught up in the waiting that we forget just to rest in the moment.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and to be still and rest right where God has called us today.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I think about Abraham you know another great biblical example of of waiting in Genesis 12 Abraham was 75 years old no children with his wife Sarah but God promised Abraham descendants.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: God promised Abraham a seed a land and a worldwide blessing but Abraham still had to wait 25 more years until Isaac was born.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: He was then a hundred years old when the promise was answered but Abraham never stopped trusting and we trust God in the waiting we cry out to him we can wrestle at times and we remind ourselves of God's promises and and God's word in in the waiting and then I think we also worship in the waiting and you know I I I think about Habakkuk once again Habakkuk 3 16 through 19 I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us though the fig tree does not bud and then there are no grapes on the vines though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: I will be joyful in God my Savior.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: The sovereign Lord is my strength he makes my feet like the feet of a deer he enables me to tread on the heights so how do we worship how do we rejoice when life is hard yeah I mean I I think when you look at this there it it's right there it says I will rejoice you know that it's hard um in those moments because we're usually waiting like no one's waiting at a beach yeah you know no one's waiting on vacation no one's waiting uh when they get the contract or they seal the deal no one's waiting at a parade you're usually waiting when it's a bit muddy in the valley and and in those muddy moments in the valleys um can we rejoice?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah can we find something to be thankful for um gratitude um is not an option for us as believers um we're to rejoice always and I I just remember those songs like this is the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it I can I can remember at my granddad's church in North Carolina you know where back then we went to church all day um it when I was a kid and and you just there's certain things that stick out and I remember that song seeing older women uh with the hats on and white gloves on and had the fans and they would just and just just singing that song and you would just be watching these folks like I can't wait till this is over so I can go outside and play because I know I got to come back here and go to church again.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: But it stuck with my memory like those people I don't know what those people were going through but I know that they were thankful for something and number one that we have a relationship with the Lord that he has redeemed us from our sin debt he's he's good and he's kind and he's loving.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_03: The Bible says it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance we we should be thankful for that and then being thankful for the practical things that we have he provides for us all of our needs.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: If we have food and clothing and shelter being thankful for that being thankful for uh the relationship you have with your your wife and family members being thankful for the relationship that you have with good friends being thankful that you have a vehicle like on and on and on you can you can list the things that uh you should be thankful for and when you're in these places where uh the fig tree does not bud uh there are no grapes on the vine that speaks of you know it's it's a bit lean you know um I I know that in times of my life when I've been fired from a job um it's it's quick it's a quick thought for me to go to how I've been wronged.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah but then having relationships like you and and having my new wife Lisa um and being around my kids I'm like man I got so much to be thankful for man I I've been in the NBA like holy smokes like coming from where I came from like I had no clue you know I wanted to be like my granddad when I was coming up and there's nothing wrong with that he's a landscaper and he he did some pretty cool stuff but God did like way more yeah and in those moments when it doesn't work out um the reminder to be thankful which is right here it says yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yes and there's there's so many um you brought up uh Abraham and Joseph Moses 40 years in the wilderness uh with the Israelites David 12 to 15 years uh before he became king uh Hannah waited for a child in 1 Samuel 1 10 uh Simeon and Anna waited a lifetime for the Messiah uh Daniel uh shorter but 21 days he waited for an answer to prayer uh the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5 she waited 12 years with a blood issue yeah like man yeah you know the man at the pool uh he was an invalid he was 38 years John 5 talks about that those are tough tough tough moments um I can tell you when when I was in the hospital that night with my wife and just sitting there waiting uh in the room that they gave me it it felt like 20 years passed that night and um I can't say that I was thankful or anything.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_03: I just had to wait and you know afterwards um we got the outcome that no one wants but over time as God has brought us through and I I get to see where my kids are now versus where we could be I'm so thankful for what God has done uh in our lives.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's provided me with a beautiful uh woman that's crazy enough to help me with these kids and and put up with me on a daily basis um in that I can rejoice in the Lord.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that that's a really cool thing to be able to um hang in there with the Lord as he brings us through uh anxiety depression a lot of dark days um and when you read the Psalms if you if you go through the Psalms you see that you see depression you see anxiety you see rough stuff in in all of that can we find something to be thankful for um is is essential.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah we can we can rejoice in the waiting I think another key principle is to not worry in the waiting uh which is easier said than done but we all worry at times and Paul reminds us in Philippians 4 5 and 6 that the Lord is near so don't worry don't be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your request be known to God take it all to him and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and I liked how Charles Stanley taught on this subject of waiting and he said God hears our prayers in the waiting and he answers either yes no or wait not yet.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then Dr.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: Stanley said that there is a fourth answer as well that the apostle Paul heard as he prayed three times that a thorn in his flesh would be removed.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: And God answered my grace is sufficient for power is perfected in weakness and that's something I I texted your son Elijah today just God's grace is sufficient for your every need and just to remind ourselves of that that we can just rest in that promise that no matter what we're walking through God's grace is enough.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: So any final word of encouragement to to the person who who's waiting for that answer waiting for healing waiting for a breakthrough how do we wait well?
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: I I think for you know this segment typically when we've done our our pods I've been able to you know for whatever reason share an experience from my life that God has done something but when I I think this is appropriate to go to the scriptures that I've um we both have kind of put out in our notes or put on our notes in uh um you know Psalm 374 says wait for the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off you will see it Psalm 14711 says the Lord favors those who fear him those who wait for his loving kindness.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's good there's scripture after scripture after scripture that we could point to um we talked about Isaiah 4031 Lamentations 325 it it is life changing it is foundational I I don't believe that I would have a level of um functional sanity if I didn't have the word when I went through losing Ingrid uh to the car accident that we um went through um having that foundation in God's word um not only did it teach me how to wait but it it put some things in perspective for me that I just didn't understand.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah um we all have an appointed time on this earth um we all belong to him and those of us who believe um will live with the Lord forever and eternity and that's something to look forward to and I I I have this you know we have this cool podcast that you and I get to do together this we all have different Bibles this is um my hero uh Swindah like I I just I love this one he's just I I just love that dude like he could just laugh and just make my day I saw this one on Amazon it's called Quest Study Bible and it's a Bible that has uh the scriptures but then it has these questions on the side and it has some some application at the bottom nothing is more important than God's word but for people who are not um familiar with the scriptures and don't study a ton and and and that kind of thing this is a pretty cool Bible tool to use so that you become more familiar with the scriptures and as opposed to me sharing anything encouraging to today from my past um my encouragement to believers and even those who don't uh believe get in the word man if you're just starting out read the book of John if you're looking for wisdom go to the proverbs if you want to see uh real life and and and rough stuff like go to the Psalms you know this there's so much there yeah and especially in those times of waiting having these anxious Anchors in your life.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I know that in my life there's I have my anchor verses.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Matthew 6 33, Exodus 14, 14, Psalm 46, 10, Colossians 3 23, Genesis 1.1, James 1.17, Ephesians 3.20.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like those are as goofy and as not so bright as I am.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: Years and years of studying the scriptures have they it's given me these reference points in my life that when I'm in these moments of waiting, I can refer to the scriptures.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: So my encouragement to those who are listening to us, please get into the word.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great practical word.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um as we said from the beginning, we are not experts.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in a 45-minute conversation, we're not going to provide the definitive word when it comes to waiting, but look to God's word.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: And another scripture that we often talk about is Psalm 73, when Asaph he sees the prosperity of the wicked all around him.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: He sees all these things that were so troublesome in his sight until he entered the sanctuary of God.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we run to God in the waiting.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: God is working for our good in the waiting.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's completely fine to wrestle in the waiting and say, as Habakkuk said, How long, O Lord?
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: But let's not wait in and waste our present.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not waste our pain in what God is trying to do in and through the waiting.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: We worship in the waiting, we praise him, we we show gratitude, as you said, and then let us not worry.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: His grace is sufficient, his grace is enough.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let us watch for him in the waiting.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Watch for the dawn.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: We're watching for that time when ultimately Christ will return and redeem and restore all things.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we just want to let the listener know that we thank God for you.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're here for you.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're walking through the valleys, we're celebrating with you as well.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: And feel free to email us, let us know how we can be praying for you specifically.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: The email address is Monty at coaching for the number fourlife.us, or will at coachingforlife.us.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And let me pray for the listeners right now.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we pray for any that are listening, that are waiting.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, they're waiting for the test results, uh, they're waiting for healing, they're waiting for a relationship to be restored, and and they're watching and waiting for you to minister to them through your word and by your spirit.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Lord, would they not waste the present, uh not waste the pain, but but seek your face, worship you, watch for you, and and know that you are causing all things to work together for the good to those who love you.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: We pray this in in Jesus' name.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for tuning in today.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we thank God for you, and and remember, whatever it is that you're facing today, know that God loves you, he's with you, and he has a good plan for you.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll see you next time.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining us at Coaching for Life.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: And please subscribe wherever you receive this content.