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Key Bible Verse: Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord (Psalm 27:14). Bonus Reading: Psalm 40:1-3

I don't like to wait and I don't wait very well. I'm the guy who cuts across the grass to get there faster. When there's a line at the market, I watch for another check-stand to open and try to get there first. When I played baseball, I wouldn't wait on the curve ball, and in track I'd jump the gun at the start."

But my friend Don Springer, a retired fisherman, taught me a lesson about waiting. I love to snorkel. There's almost nothing I'd rather do than swim in the clear blue waters of the world looking at tropical fish, coral, and the underwater world. Don and I went snorkeling in Napili Bay, Maui, Hawaii. He drove me crazy. He couldn't swim for six feet without stopping for minutes at a time.

But a funny thing happened when I waited for Don. I saw more fish, more eels, more movements in the water than I'd ever seen before. Although I'd snorkeled at Napili Bay before, I never truly experienced Napili Bay until Don showed me how to wait.

It's a good lesson for life. Maybe we should quit rushing around trying to find God. Maybe we should stop, look, listen, and wait. He's here. He has something to reveal and say to you today.

—Jim Burns in Devotions on the Run

My Response: I could open up space in my schedule for God-listening by …

Thought to Apply: Exasperation is the mind's way of spinning its wheels until patience restores traction.—GEORGE GRIGGS (writer & novelist)

Adapted from Devotions on the Run (Regal, 2004) by permission.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Thank You, Lord, for Your infinite patience. Grant me a composure of spirit that reflects Your character.

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