Waiting out the Rain

Life of Expectant Waiting

This blog post is inspired by sermon given by a friend to Bring it Home, Pastor Neil Quinn. He gave this sermon at his home church in 2009, before leaving to attend Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. The sermon title is "A Life of Expectant Waiting"

You can listen to this sermon here.

Waiting

The sermon made me think of the boy, who on a rainy day, wants nothing more than to play outside. He constantly glances at his window hoping for the streaking drops to cease. Impatiently he walks to the window and stares out, hoping to see a ray of sunshine, or at least neighborhood kids playing in the puddles. As a last ditch effort he flies to a different window on the other side of the house to check and see if the rain has stopped on that side.

The boy is ready at the moments notice to throw his shoes. It takes a very diligent and determined mother to stop her child from blasting out the door at the smallest hint of the suns return.

The Rain

The rain, represents the dreary status of the world. In the wake of another terrorist attack, it should be clear to all of us that this world is not as it should be. We are constantly bombarded with negative actions of others. Not to mention that sin within ourselves offers us no rest.

It can be a dreary world to live in.

Yet, there is a beauty in this world that shines through like the sun blasting through the clouds. These rays of beauty remind us that one day the rain will be gone and the world will be warm again as it basks in the glory of its King.

For the Return of the "Son"

As Families we want to teach this kind of expectant waiting. We want our children to catch our hope for the return of God's Son. The flavor of our homes should be one that consistently looks forward to the hope that we have in Christ of a life with Him, free from the dreary state of a sin soaked world.

Here are a few ways to cultivate this kind of excitement around the return of the King in our homes.

1) Read and Study the Bible together:

The Bible was recorded and preserved to make much of the King of Kings. There is no better way to look forward to the Kings return than to read about Him and His deeds.

2) Sing:

The songs written about our King are inspirational. Good songs about Christ will recount His deeds and lead the listener to express their heart and their longing for Him. Added plus is that songs are catchy and are easy to memorize, perfect for little minds.

3) Pray:

The King of Kings allows His subjects to come before Him and to cast their cares at His feet. He promises to listen to even the children of His people. Lead your family before Him.

4) Walk in the "rain":

What do I mean by "Walk in the rain"? As we await the return of our King, it is tempting to avoid everything that may be harmful to us or our family. We don't want to understand what is happening around us, we want to lay our head down and wait.

I am suggesting that we have our King and His protection with us even now, and we can walk in this world (the rain) experiencing the heartache and witnessing the problems, without being harmed by them. Teach your family to walk boldly into the world that hates our King and do what we can as we await His return.