Waiting

Good opener video from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uor_gZnckLA

(available upon request)

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A group of travelers were being made to wait on their airplane, which was late due to another flight being canceled.

The crowd looked horrible and impatient as the time went on and on.

Finally an angry passenger pushed his way to the front of the line, slammed his ticket down and said, “I must be on this flight now and I must be in first class”.

The flight attendant, trying to be nice said, “Sir, we will get to you as soon as possible, but you must wait in line like everyone else”.

He quickly said, “Ma’am, do you have any idea who I am?”

Without hesitation, she smiled, picked up her intercom microphone and said, “We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to gate 17.”

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Have you ever been forced to sit and wait on something?

Did you know that if you lived on St. Paul Island in Alaska and got the urge for pizza it would take three days for the pizza to arrive?

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter 3 vs. 8

As you’re turning there, I would like to share with you the top ten things that I have found by asking 95 people “What they dislike waiting on.”

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Here’s what I found from these people:

#10 Waiting for your food in a restaurant because the waiter

messed up your order

#9 Waiting on commercials on TV so you can get back to your TV show

#8 Held up in traffic with no escape routes

#7 Waiting on highway traffic due congestion or traffic accident due to rubbernecking

#6 Waiting for a store employee to serve you while they finish personal conversations

#5 Waiting at long traffic lights or four way stop signs

#4 Waiting on meeting times or appointments or service repairs not kept prompt by others

#3 Waiting to speak to a live person when calling a company

#2 Waiting in a doctors office or dentist office or emergency room

#1 Waiting on slow cashiers at department stores, grocery stores or fast food stores

Other notables included -- waiting to be seated in a restaurant when there are hundreds of open tables

Waiting for my dog to find that perfect place outside to do their business

There’s no doubt that we all value our time. Some of us would rather give our money than our time.

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A Million Dollars

I love the story I heard a few years ago about the man who was having a conversation with God.

The man said, “God, how long is a million years to you?” God said, “A million years is like a second."

The man asked, “How much is a million dollars to you?” God said, “A million dollars is like a penny.”

The man said, “Could you spare a penny?” -- God said, “Sure, just wait a second.”

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Sometimes we get tired of waiting for God’s promises to come to pass – or we get confused about how it is all going to take place.

People ask, “Where is the sign of his coming?” -- There’s even confusion today about how Jesus will come back to earth.

The latest fear is that the Mayan calendar ends in the year 2012 --And there’s different beliefs about how Jesus will return also.

God has His own timing on His return for us because the Word says that God’s time has a different perspective than our time.

Today, I would like to share with you what Peter’s last words that he gave to believers who where undergoing persecution.

And that his last words written to us were said to encourage the church in it’s infancy as a message of hope – during a time of “intense waiting” for Christ to return.

Through these words, we can find truth in waiting for God’s promise to come true in our lives today.

---------------------------------- Read 2 Peter 3:8-18

The ABC show 20/20 once did an experiment on waiting and self-control with children.

The children in the experiment were given two choices.

They could have a single treat, one cookie, right now.

If they could wait while the reporter ran an errand, they could have two cookies.

Some of the preschoolers grabbed the single cookie immediately; while others waited up to twenty minutes to receive their two cookies.

Those who wanted the two cookies used all kinds of tactics to sustain themselves while waiting.

Some covered their eyes so that they would not see the cookies set before them.

Some rested their heads on their arms, talked to themselves, sang, and even tried to sleep.