Reflections on Waiting

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our fifth week of in Brisbane, waiting for our visas. No one can turn time in Brisbane into a hardship. It’s a lovely city and we brought work with us so we stayed busy thus far. We do, however, want to get back to PNG and begin preparing for Christmas and the people who will come to us at that time.
Waiting is an interesting activity. It almost always seems to be a “waste of time” and if I pretended we were not a tad frustrated it wouldn’t be honest. I have, however, prayed about what God has for us in this waiting period. Glimpses appear here and there: a meeting with a long time friend from PNG who is struggling to sense God’s presence; the hairdresser whose husband said he would come to Australia for his family but has decided to stay in their country of origin. All over there are people, God’s image bearers, who need someone to come alongside and say, “He is there. He is listening. Wait and see what He will do”.
Waiting for something as mundane as a visa, reminds me how much our waiting for temporal things Is not like waiting for Christ. Biblical hope is not a wish that something might happen that, should I not cross my fingers hard enough or say the right words, could fall through the cracks. Biblical hope is the expectation of that which is assured. Our hope cannot fail because of the One who made the promise.
So we wait in Brisbane and enter the Advent season, a time of waiting for a promise assured by the Maker of the Universe. These weeks between Thanksgiving and Advent can remind us of a time when all the world stood waiting for the child whose coming made a new star appear, wise men traverse the globe, shepherds rejoice, kings quake, angels sing and senior citizens proclaim salvation to all those in Jerusalem who were waiting for the Messiah.
Celebrating as we wait,
The Vanaria Family