Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: WAIT (05/21/20)
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TITLE: The King of 'Hold on a Sec' | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Insley
05/28/20 -
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I remember, on my sixth birthday, jam jar and string in hand, I excitedly shouted, “Come on dad, there’s fish to catch.” He’d promised to take me down the river and let me drop the jar into the water to fill it up with tiddlies, which I’d bring home and put into a bigger jar, feed them and grow them into a big fish. My imagination ran wild with my six year old dream of Moby Dick growing in my own back shed. But the typical, “Hold on a sec, I’ve just got to do something for gran, I’ll be out there soon” was yelled through the back door.
I’d got fed up with waiting and gone off alone, taking great pleasure in thinking about my mum kicking his backside for letting me go to the river on my own. But when I got back, I wasn’t even missed and here I was ‘Holding on a sec’ while I waited and watched my jar full of tiddlies grow into a great big fish. They never did. They either died or I got fed up of the delay and threw them out, lowering the jam jar into the water and pulling it up by the string tied around its neck to start the process again… a process of the never ending wait.
But I grew up and took on another form of waiting. Twenty years old and on tender hooks waiting for my conscription notice. Any time now, the mailman would bring the letter calling me into National Service. The war with Vietnam was raging and young men were called into what we’d come to know as ‘Nashos,’ the two year draft into the armed forces. We all knew it was coming, ‘Hold on a sec, the summons is in the post.’ Any moment now and it’s off to boot camp to train for the jungle warfare of Nam.
I got fed up with waiting and joined up. Mum told me the letter never arrived, and I didn’t know why until the fourth week of basic training. Rushed out of the sack and yelled at by the NCOs, bed made and dressed in full battle gear, I raced down two flights of stairs and onto parade to stand around waiting for the Officer in Charge. Typical, hurry up and wait was the embodiment of military life. Three quarters of an hour we waited on that parade ground. One man fainted while he was standing there; it was hot and he’d had a heavy night on the grog. Dehydration did him in.
The officer eventually came and made a big announcement, Vietnam was over and Nashos had come to an end, All serving National Service men would be sent home. I’d joined up and was stuck in this man’s stupid army. I hated it… for six years I couldn’t wait to get out.
All my childhood I had to ‘Hold on a sec’ for dad, throughout my twenties it was hurry up and wait while some officer dilly dallied over his decision making. And now I’m in my sixties and ‘waiting on’ again, but this time it’s different. I’m waiting on the Lord.
There’s no ‘Hold on a sec’ while I’m busy doing something else, The Lord’s delay is always for my own good. There’s something He wants me to learn, or things are not quite spiritually lined up yet, but in His perfect timing all will come to pass. And while I’m waiting, I’m preparing. Daily Scripture and constant prayer strengthen my soul, build my faith and get me ready to stand for what I believe in… ready with the Word of God in all seasons.
And there is another war coming. The spiritual war of the last days. It’s just around the corner and I’m once again in boot camp, training as all good soldiers do. But there is no dilly-dallying officer keeping my waiting on parade. In eager anticipation I’m listening for the trumpet call that for many will be the most important sound they have ever heard.
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