The Waiting Place-Part II

Fasten your seatbelts for Part II of "The Waiting Place."


Myth #2: I'm Not Being Productive in the Waiting Place

Blame the Stephen Coveys of the world for this false teaching. How many have read Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People"? Ok, all three of you that read this blog. Great! Thanks mom, dad, and Sarah. The purpose of that book was to help the reader be an extremely productive, task accomplishing fiend every second of their life. Covey, asserts that perfecting his meticulous system of goal-setting, mission and values statement writing, and to-do listing, will enhance one’s daily productivity, which in turn is the key to happy life. Not only has our culture been hi-jacked by multi-tasking, but also has a propensity to buy into the belief that task accomplishment in life means everything. In an environment such as this, it’s no small wonder that we feel about as productive as a slug on holiday when we're in “The Waiting Place.”

The thing about God, however, is that he does not measure productivity with the same gauges as those lifted from the “self help” section at Barnes and Noble. In fact, I would argue that there are times when we feel as if we are doing nothing more than spinning our proverbial wheels that we are, by God’s standards, turning the world upside down. One of God's favorite benchmarks of productivity that usually doesn’t make the cut on our to-do lists is character development. I am reminded of an oft repeated phrase of the former bishop of the Louisiana District UPC Rev. T.F. Tenney, "God is interested in building the man before He builds the church." The next time you find yourself in the waiting place, leave your productivity gauge in storage. Instead of looking at what you are accomplishing, look at who you are becoming. God finally got this through to me one day when I was out for a stroll in the beautiful metropolis of St. Charles, Illinois.

Voices in the Wind

One windy afternoon I went out for a prayer walk along the Fox River. About halfway through the walk, I climbed a looking tower that provided a great view of the city of St. Charles. At this point, Sarah and I had recently made the tough decision to leave our life in Chicagoland to pastor a wonderful group of people in Ruston, LA. What made this a tough decision was not that the opportunity in Ruston was not a great one. The hard part was that we didn’t feel like we had accomplished what God sent us to Chicago to accomplish. And now we were leaving. Two years prior, we had moved to metropolitan Illinois with big dreams of starting a new church. Although we were able to make a difference in a few lives during our time there, we had fallen far short of accomplishing all that God had placed in our hearts to accomplish. As I was standing up there pondering all of this, I thought, "Man I hope the Cubbies win the World Series this year." My second thought was, “Man, we just didn’t get it done here.” I actually gave voice to the frustration that I was feeling and said, "God, I never did reach this city for you." Instantly, although His voice was not audible, God spoke to me very clearly and said, "No, but in this city, I did reach you." Wow! I've carried those words with me ever since because they were so true.

If my productivity during this foray into the Midwest were to be measured by the achievement of tangible, hard, results, I failed miserably. Contrariwise, should you pry a little deeper into the value of the construction of character, softening of the heart, and strengthening of faith, mountains were moved. As a result of this gut wrenching process, I grew in my faith and character so much that I became a very different and more substantive person. While being excommunicated from the Church of Stephen Covey, I became a member in good standing of deeper and more beautiful place in my relationship with God. Therefore, if you find yourself in a place where you feel that you're not reaching your potential, be encouraged. Perhaps a far more productive thing is happening, God may be reaching you.

Recently my mother and father, Paul and Malinda Trentacoste, and Maurisha LeJeune drove up to Ruston to "coach us up." I've posted a few pictures from that visit.

Dad preached at our worship service on Sunday. "There Is Still Light In Goshen"

Fine dining at The Blue Light Cafe.

Sarah doing what she does best and Alan...well, just being Alan.
I had to post this picture to show off Kenney Reynolds' "buffet breeches" and sherpa lined Crocs. That man sure knows how to dress. Chris Frick and Dad sharing a laugh before church.

Buddy Wells doin' what he does best.

Leading worship at midweek service.

We had 48 people at midweek service!


Malinda Trentacoste spoke for us at our midweek service..."Safe in the City".

My mom leading a discussion about church planting.

Tommorrow is our first annual Wild West Harvest Fest. Here is a sneak peak at some of the behind the scenes preparation.

Sarah and Alex painting in preparation for the Wild West Harvest Fest

Olen thought he would try his hand at painting as well. After he finished his masterpiece he told his dad in confidence, "Mine's gooder than theirs."
Then Olen and his Bubba Teeth posed for the camera

Sarah and Alex's finished product

God Bless,

Jathan Maricelli