Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there." With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.
It's opener there in the wide open air
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too.
OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't. Because, sometimes, you won't. I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up in a prickle-ey perch. And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump. And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. THE WAITING PLACE....
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a place to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or a phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.
It's opener there in the wide open air
Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you. And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too.
OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! 
You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don't. Because, sometimes, you won't. I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up in a prickle-ey perch. And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump. And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win? And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place. THE WAITING PLACE....
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a place to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or a phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.The Waiting Place
Although a fictional place coined by the good doctor, I am convinced that "The Waiting Place" is all too real. Furthermore, I am certain that I've had my mail shipped there more than once. "The Waiting Place" is that season when nothing good seems to happen. Metaphors for this time in one's life are "bogged up to your earns in a quagmire", "a hamster running relentlessly on its wheel", "swimming against the current", and "spitting into the wind", just to name a few. No wonder Dr. Suess called it "the most useless place."
Although it has many distinctive characteristics, one unique thing that I want to point out about "The Waiting Place" is that it is populated with people who have no idea how they've gotten there. Not only are people in "The Waiting Place" mystified by their newest zip code, they're also ticked off about it! Personally, I feel that these people are justified in their chagrin. Being sentenced without proper cause to “The Waiting Place” just isn’t fair! Trust me, I’ve talked to lots of people on park benches in “The Waiting Place”, and the only sin that they’ve committed was to actually have enough ambition to have a dream and pursue it. Then, along the way to dreamland, “The Waiting Place” just popped up out of nowhere and sucked them into its vortex.
It's as if the lady that cranks out orders on GPS devices decided to play a dirty trick on millions of people and guide them to the last destination on earth at which they would ever want to arrive. What else could possible explain the mystery of "One day I enter 'Dreams Realized' as the desired destination on my GPS For Life only to end up in 'The Waiting Place' the next day"?
Dreams are great aren't they? It's quite scintillating to think about how it's going to feel once we are actually living the dream. I love the way dreams are packaged as well. They are wrapped perfectly in a total lack of awareness and distorted reality. For example, the distance from where we stand to the land of realized dreams has never seemed to be more than a block or two of well-groomed sidewalk. As Dr. Suess said "You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." It's no small wonder that we take our "quick brains" and agile feet" and steer ourselves the dream place.
It's only a matter of time, however, until we tear away the package of naiveté from the dream and that two block stroll down Broadway Avenue becomes a seemingly endless walk-a-bout through a swampy labyrinth of uncertainty. At some point during this mysterious and perilous stroll, it's inevitable; we will come upon "The Waiting Place." Although an occasional stint there is unavoidable, I don't believe that it’s in anyone’s destiny to become the lifelong mayor of Waitingplaceville. The purpose of this article is to bring you encouragement should you find yourself in the land of the lurch and the home of the cave by debunking a few "Waiting Place" myths.
Myth #1: God Is Not With Me in the Waiting Place
There is a popular belief out there that suggests that "The Waiting Place" is a vacuum, void of God. This belief is spawned from the relentless inability to get a break already! Don't look for a job promotion, windfall inheritance, lucky bounce, or good news from the doctor in “The Waiting Place.” When all of this nothing is happening, some allow "The Waiting Place" to use their reasoning skills against them.
Such people deduce that: Since nothing positive is happening, then God "has left the building" along with Elvis. It's very important to go Nancy Reagan on this perfectly sensible idea, however, and "Just Say No" to it. Trust me on this one, God absolutely is with us in "The Waiting Place". To mistrust His loyalty simply because our mental, spiritual, and physical bank accounts are way overdrawn, does not sit well with Him and could possibly lead to a longer “Waiting Place” sentence.
If we will, instead, stubbornly insist that God's presence remains prevalent and His love for us is as ardent as ever in "The Waiting Place", our faith will be rewarded by His divine provision. This provision of which I speak is His way of letting us know that He's still within earshot. To illustrate this point, I've got another freaky story for you this week. Ok, gather ‘round kids for another installment of Spiritually Spooky Stories with Pastor M.
Spiritually Spooky Storytime
A couple of winters ago in Chicago, my lovely bride Sarah was driving down Hwy 64, hit some black ice, spun out of control and promptly totaled her beautiful royal blue ‘98 Escort. Did I mention that the car was paid for? Did I also mention that I am very thankful that she wasn't injured? The problem was that it was going to take $2,500, which coincidentally we did not have, to get her into a top of the line ‘96 Toyota Camry. (Actually, the gold “C” was missing on the trunk display so it was an “Amry”.)
A day or so after we decided to buy this replacement car, a gentlemen approached me at our midweek church service and handed me an envelope with a card in it and said, "About a month ago I felt I needed to give you this, and tonight I decided to go ahead and do it." I took the enveloped, thanked him, and went on about my business of having some fun worshipping God during service. On the way home, I opened the card and a check fell out. The amount written on the check was, you guessed it, the nice tidy sum of $2,500! Story time with Pastor M. never disappoints does it?
I've got to be honest with you, during this time in mine and Sarah's life not a whole lot was going well. In fact, on so many fronts, never before had so many things gone badly. Yet, in the midst of the confusion and chaos, God was right beside us. Not only did God show us he was there in this particular instance, but He continued to prove to be loyal to His two scared little children over and over again during this period of uncertainty in our lives. The moral of the story is that God is absolutely with you in “The Waiting Place.”
Although it has many distinctive characteristics, one unique thing that I want to point out about "The Waiting Place" is that it is populated with people who have no idea how they've gotten there. Not only are people in "The Waiting Place" mystified by their newest zip code, they're also ticked off about it! Personally, I feel that these people are justified in their chagrin. Being sentenced without proper cause to “The Waiting Place” just isn’t fair! Trust me, I’ve talked to lots of people on park benches in “The Waiting Place”, and the only sin that they’ve committed was to actually have enough ambition to have a dream and pursue it. Then, along the way to dreamland, “The Waiting Place” just popped up out of nowhere and sucked them into its vortex.
It's as if the lady that cranks out orders on GPS devices decided to play a dirty trick on millions of people and guide them to the last destination on earth at which they would ever want to arrive. What else could possible explain the mystery of "One day I enter 'Dreams Realized' as the desired destination on my GPS For Life only to end up in 'The Waiting Place' the next day"?
Dreams are great aren't they? It's quite scintillating to think about how it's going to feel once we are actually living the dream. I love the way dreams are packaged as well. They are wrapped perfectly in a total lack of awareness and distorted reality. For example, the distance from where we stand to the land of realized dreams has never seemed to be more than a block or two of well-groomed sidewalk. As Dr. Suess said "You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose." It's no small wonder that we take our "quick brains" and agile feet" and steer ourselves the dream place.
It's only a matter of time, however, until we tear away the package of naiveté from the dream and that two block stroll down Broadway Avenue becomes a seemingly endless walk-a-bout through a swampy labyrinth of uncertainty. At some point during this mysterious and perilous stroll, it's inevitable; we will come upon "The Waiting Place." Although an occasional stint there is unavoidable, I don't believe that it’s in anyone’s destiny to become the lifelong mayor of Waitingplaceville. The purpose of this article is to bring you encouragement should you find yourself in the land of the lurch and the home of the cave by debunking a few "Waiting Place" myths.
Myth #1: God Is Not With Me in the Waiting Place
There is a popular belief out there that suggests that "The Waiting Place" is a vacuum, void of God. This belief is spawned from the relentless inability to get a break already! Don't look for a job promotion, windfall inheritance, lucky bounce, or good news from the doctor in “The Waiting Place.” When all of this nothing is happening, some allow "The Waiting Place" to use their reasoning skills against them.
Such people deduce that: Since nothing positive is happening, then God "has left the building" along with Elvis. It's very important to go Nancy Reagan on this perfectly sensible idea, however, and "Just Say No" to it. Trust me on this one, God absolutely is with us in "The Waiting Place". To mistrust His loyalty simply because our mental, spiritual, and physical bank accounts are way overdrawn, does not sit well with Him and could possibly lead to a longer “Waiting Place” sentence.
If we will, instead, stubbornly insist that God's presence remains prevalent and His love for us is as ardent as ever in "The Waiting Place", our faith will be rewarded by His divine provision. This provision of which I speak is His way of letting us know that He's still within earshot. To illustrate this point, I've got another freaky story for you this week. Ok, gather ‘round kids for another installment of Spiritually Spooky Stories with Pastor M.
Spiritually Spooky Storytime
A couple of winters ago in Chicago, my lovely bride Sarah was driving down Hwy 64, hit some black ice, spun out of control and promptly totaled her beautiful royal blue ‘98 Escort. Did I mention that the car was paid for? Did I also mention that I am very thankful that she wasn't injured? The problem was that it was going to take $2,500, which coincidentally we did not have, to get her into a top of the line ‘96 Toyota Camry. (Actually, the gold “C” was missing on the trunk display so it was an “Amry”.)
A day or so after we decided to buy this replacement car, a gentlemen approached me at our midweek church service and handed me an envelope with a card in it and said, "About a month ago I felt I needed to give you this, and tonight I decided to go ahead and do it." I took the enveloped, thanked him, and went on about my business of having some fun worshipping God during service. On the way home, I opened the card and a check fell out. The amount written on the check was, you guessed it, the nice tidy sum of $2,500! Story time with Pastor M. never disappoints does it?
I've got to be honest with you, during this time in mine and Sarah's life not a whole lot was going well. In fact, on so many fronts, never before had so many things gone badly. Yet, in the midst of the confusion and chaos, God was right beside us. Not only did God show us he was there in this particular instance, but He continued to prove to be loyal to His two scared little children over and over again during this period of uncertainty in our lives. The moral of the story is that God is absolutely with you in “The Waiting Place.”
God Bless,
Jathan Maricelli
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