The first story is of a little boy. When he was 5, his parents separated.
His father was an alcoholic, his mother was ill. She died when he was 9, and so he became an orphan and was sent to an orphanage. Then for a time he and his older brother went to live with their father, until his father passed away. By high school, he was basically on his own. It sounds like the plot of a tragic movie, but this boy heard the gospel when he was 15 and came to know Jesus Christ. His name is Jim Daly, president of the famous American ministry Focus on the Family. To grow up with such a background and yet become a spokesperson for family – how can it be anything but God’s great power and grace? Jim told the story of how when he was about to turn 6, his father suddenly showed up at their front door and promised him a baseball mitt as a birthday gift. Jim was very happy, for he loved baseball and would spend eight hours or more playing every Saturday. During those days, he waited. Every 15 minutes, he ran out to see if his father was coming. But his father never came, and the promise was never kept. This was a wait that ended in disappointment.

The second story of waiting is about a pastor. He and his wife adopted a 15 year old boy. But not long afterwards, the young man left home, saying he wanted to find his birth parents. He also fell into drugs and alcohol. For 10 years, the pastor tried every method he could think of to contact the young man, hoping that he would return home. The pastor said that he would check every car parked near his house to see if his son had returned. Every time the phone rang, he hoped it was his son. But this story also ended in disappointment.

The third story of waiting is about a father. He had two sons, and the youngest one left home, playing around and squandering all his money. Yet the father waited for his son. On that day when the son returned, with a broken spirit and dirty body, his father saw the familiar figure from a distance and immediately ran to hug his son. No scolding, no punishment, no admonishment, only actions of forgiveness and acceptance. The father in this parable is like our Heavenly Father. We are all like the prodigal son, we went astray, not realizing that our Father’s heart of love longs for our repentance and return.

Waiting can be torturous. We may be disappointed when we wait on people, but when we wait on God, there is always hope, for God will never abandon his own.

Winnie Chan, Local Preacher of Wesley Methodist Church, SIbu