Waiting is not waisting….

Waiting is seriously the hardest thing in the world for me to do! I am not good at it. It doesn't matter if it is a response to an email, text, phone call or just an answer in general, I hate waiting! And with the recent addition to my life in the form of a crackberry, I have gotten even worse. I  have spent hours waiting for that little red light to blink to tell me I have a response. In my line of work when someone needs an answer, they need it now. Tulle and flowers are a big deal people!

But, I am pretty sure my lesson over the past couple of months has been, wait on me, trust me, I am in control. For anyone who has known me longer than 5 seconds you know that none of those am I very good at. But somehow, in this season of my life God is teaching me to wait on him. Sometimes it is on the small things, but others it is on bigger things. I mentioned before that I recently moved to Houston. That was a very long series of questions all to which the answers came after prayer and waiting.

One of my favorite speakers recently said, "Waiting is not wasting when you are waiting on God. Waiting is God working." This was a hard pill for me to swallow. I am by nature a doer. I am not good at sitting around and waiting on anything. If you take more then 5 minutes to respond to a text message I am going to be annoyed at you! I am pretty sure God laughs at me about this. If I was honest I would have to admit that sometimes, I laugh at me about this.

But, for whatever reason God has called me into a season of waiting. The cool part is that in the waiting process I am learning to lean into Him. I am actually finding myself trusting Him more and asking His thoughts. Right now there are certain areas of my life where I would really love some answers. Wait! That is the answer that I keep getting. The good news is that God has brought me this far and I am pretty sure He can blow my mind if I allow him to be God in my life.

Why Tuesday's at Grinder

Someone once asked me if I were going to write a book about my life, what would I title it and why? I answered Tuesday's at Grinder's.

My life has been one, like most peoples, of many ups and downs. Some days were good; some were bad, but most seemed to be unimportant. I went about my life doing my own thing. Although I was raised with a strong set of Christian values, my life in the winter of 2002 was all about me. Then, one Sunday morning God brought someone into my life that would forever change the way I viewed church, God, relationships, worship and ultimately every aspect of life. His name was Rick Pearson. Yes, we have the same last name. No, we are not sure if we were related. His sisters and I like to think so. Rick and I always said one day we would figure it out, but we were always distracted and never got around to looking into our family heritage.

Rick was handsome - correction - Rick was hot! And he knew it. Rick had a voice that could make grown men cry. And if his singing didn't make them cry, his being better than everyone at everything would bring even the strongest of men to tears. He was the total package. Rick had the kind of talent at the age of 21 that most people spend their entire lives trying to attain. The one word I would use to describe him was favored! He loved life, but he loved Jesus more. Rick loved Jesus with every pore of his being. He was handsome, funny, smart, could fix anything and... He was one of my closest friends!

So, Rick walked into the Mountain Lake cafatorium that Sunday morning and straight into my heart, which he would forever change. At the time, I was the media team leader and my job consisted of making sure all things media ran on Sunday mornings. When Rick sang that first note of Famous One that first Sunday morning, I am pretty sure every female in the room either sighed or hid behind a bush (sorry friend, couldn't resist). Five minutes later he was spitting spit balls and playing practical jokes and we were instantly lifelong friends.

Rick was quickly offered a job as our full time worship leader. We became an instant worship planning team. We had a routine. Every Tuesday I would meet Rick at the church office, we would make out our to-do list and then head out on a mission to plan the most creative worship services MLC had ever seen. Most days involved a trip to either Target, Pottery Barn, or Pier 1; Rick was my favorite shopping buddy! Every Tuesday also involved a trip to our favorite spot CT Grinder's. Started by some of our church members, Grinder's was where many MLC'ers could meet and grab coffee or bring out an acoustic for a little jam session.

It was inside those walls where Rick taught me about a life that was not my own. We laughed, cried, and even argued a few times in that small coffee shop. Rick and I would pray for our church and our pastors. I remember praying so hard that our new believers would come to know what worship was all about, and then watching through tears of joy months later as we saw this come to fruition. I remember telling Rick some of my frustrations with life and him telling me that I needed to become involved in a community of believers. I argued with him because that meant opening myself up to hurt and pain and I did not like that idea at all! If you know Rick, you know you don't win arguments easily. That was one I was so very glad I lost. Several weeks later I found myself in my first small group and some of those people have helped to make me who I am today.

Rick also taught me about forgiveness. This lesson was the hardest to learn. I remember Rick saying to me once, "April, you have been forgiven too many times not to forgive those who hurt you. And that includes yourself." I think in some ways Rick knew I would need to know how to forgive because the hardest journey was going to come when at the age of 23, God took my precious friend home to be with Him. Learning to forgive was the hardest lesson I think I have ever learned, but also the most freeing.

I could go on for days with stories and lessons that my sweet friend taught me in that small coffee shop, but I think I would rather pause here. I have said all of that to say this: Tuesday's at Grinder's was a series of moments that forever impacted my life. Rick took time out of his life to invest in mine. Now as I begin this next chapter of my life, my prayer is that my journey may impact someone the way Rick's journey impacted me. Let the journey begin!

April