WAIT

Announcements:

• Please encourage our Police Chief and Fire Chief this week. Come up with some ideas for us to publicly honor them.

Praise Reports:

• Abby’s college plans are going well and she will soon be an official member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
• Christin will (as of right now) not be deployed this year!
• David is thankful for some wonderful referrals he’s received from an auctioneer friend; it’s a testament to God’s blessing on the way he runs his business.
• Doctors say that Toby’s problem is actually a cyst and not a tumor at all!
• Greg and David had their PSA levels tested and got back wonderful reports.
• Hannah’s biopsy came out with the “all clear” sign!
• Heather, Joe, Ava, Colin got to visit us this week.
• Thank God for Joyce: her enthusiasm in her faith and encouragement to many.

Prayer Requests:

• Alan and Kathleen—wisdom and guidance concerning their prospective move to Ohio
• Brandon—pray that he will have God’s wisdom in deciding what he will do with work and college in the near future
• Dwayne—may God’s hand of healing remain on him
• Heather and Joe—may they be a beautiful influence for Jesus and continue to seek His face
• James—a full recovery from oral surgery
• Jim Anderson—recovery from surgery to remove kidney stones
• Mary Clough—her physical wellbeing and joy on her upcoming journey
• Mary, Pam, Byron—physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health
• Matt, Amanda and Ava—to be drawn closer to God
• Rebecca—we’re thankful for the good reports we’ve heard and pray God’s continued faithfulness to her
• Sulphur Springs—may God strengthen our gates
• Trent—healing
• Vanessa—that she may continue to be a light to all she knows, and be strengthened

Spacewalking Astronaut John Grunsfeld, a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Have you ever thought of the Apollo 13 story as an allegory for our relationship with Jesus? The circumstances those astronauts found themselves in is, metaphorically, quite like the position every Christian is in today. We are stranded in an alien world, struggling to get back home, and sometimes it seems that all the odds are flat against us. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and we are stuck in space without a contingency plan.

Fortunately for us, we have our very own Ken Mattingly, otherwise known as Jesus Christ. The movie Apollo 13 portrays Ken (whose character was actually a conglomeration of many real-life astronauts) as he tries to reconstruct on earth the exact situation his buddies are in far outside the atmosphere. He put himself into their shoes and helped work out the re-entry plan.

We also have someone in a "training module" for us, someone who has gone through all the things we have yet to experience. Hebrews 2:18 says, "For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."


Do you wonder what Jesus is doing right now? He is acting as our High Priest, constantly interceding with the Father on our behalf (Hebrews7:25), as is the Spirit (Romans 8:26). What exactly does "intercession" mean? It means to intervene, mediate, and reconcile. Jesus speaks on our behalf, representing us before God. He is a High Priest who understands our unique struggles. 


So Jesus is interceding for us, just like the astronauts and engineers back at NASA who worked so hard to guide Apollo 13 back home. How do we practically act on this knowledge? What will you do with your problems and dilemmas now that you know Jesus has already walked through those difficulties ahead of you? There really is only one thing to do:

Wait.

The astronauts had to wait in the cold dark of space until a breakthrough came. So do we.

One recent example of this waiting in the Christian life involved David and Shirley a couple of weeks ago. They had financial complications come out of the blue, involving some unexpected and unjustified fees. They could have blustered and stormed and complained about the injustice, but instead they waited on God and did absolutely nothing. Three days later absolutely everything was solved in the best way possible.

Sometimes, but not always, circumstances are entirely out of our control and we just have to wait on God. You have a personal intercessor, and whether it takes a millisecond or a month you can rest assured that He is already ahead of you, figuring out the flight-plan. If we're not conscious of this intercession we  might not even think to wait, thinking instead that immediate action is the only answer. Here is your encouragement: there's already someone in your exact situation, so He knows what you need before you even ask (Matthew 6:8).

When we wait on the Lord and allow Him to work things out in higher places, it is a great testimony to world. Personal Application: Romans 12:19 literally says to "give a place" to God, and if we're not letting go and giving Him that place, are we truly making Him Lord of our life? Call on Him and have faith that something will happen, otherwise you're just religious, playing church.