STUCK IN A HOLDING PATTERN

Neal Pollard

No sooner had I told Kathy that flight travel was going smoother than usual than I boarded my plane from Minneapolis to Memphis only to find that the plane was grounded with mechanical issues.  What followed was a lengthy phone call to Delta, a rebooking on a later flight, and the knowledge that I was now going to get much better acquainted with the Minneapolis airport (my FINAL destination is Montgomery, AL).  I felt a brief twinge of aggravation at the change of my luck, especially since I was scheduled to speak to the students of Faulkner University at their campus wide devotion tonight.  That’s “iffy” right now.

We are not a culture accustomed to being made to wait nor one who pleasantly endures a change of plans and delays.  Instant gratification commands a quick and easy solution to our quandaries.  Perhaps it is the feeling of helplessness that we are powerless to change our circumstances, dependent upon the efforts of others to help us.  Perhaps it is our schedule-oriented nature, as we pack eighteen things into our twenty-four hours.  Perhaps it is the feeling that we are entitled to have things go smoothly, either because we work hard, we are doing something important, or we eschew inconvenience.  But, sometimes we have to wait.  At times, no amount or degree of complaining changes that.

What do you do when you are “stuck in a holding pattern”?  Make good use of the time (cf. Eph. 5:16) and the opportunity (Col. 4:5).  Shine the light (Matt. 5:14-16), making sure you do nothing to repel people from Christ but rather drawing all men to Him (John 12:32).  Be pleasant and cognizant of the transcendent peace you have by being in Him.  And always stick to the pattern of holding to Him!