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Viewpoint from Rev Mike Simm 22/06/2018
 Rev Mike Simm
Minister, Cliff Park Community Church
as published in the Yarmouth Mercury
I wonder how good you are at waiting. I’m terrible at it. Particularly if I’m waiting for a company to answer the phone and I’m listening to a Coldplay song for the 7th time. However, waiting is a frustrating dimension of modern life. We always seem to be waiting for something, don’t we? Waiting for a Brexit deal… Waiting for the Acle Straight to be dualled… Waiting for England to win the World Cup… But the truth is that we all hate waiting because we’re impatient
 Our church recently had to wait for some people to make a decision. Let’s just say that they were not rushing into it. And so, we found that time difficult because we wanted to know where we stood, make some decisions, do something
But also recently, we were confronted with the early church’s long wait for Pentecost. A wait prescribed by Jesus. After the resurrection, the disciples had met the risen Jesus numerous times and so their doubts had been replaced by excitement. But then Jesus unexpectedly told them to do nothing… but wait
How easy would you have found that? I’d have found it very frustrating. And yet eventually the early church found it fruitful, very fruitful, because it drew them together to pray together
 And then God showed up big time! In other words, he honoured his promises and their obedience by doing what only God can do. He gave them an encounter with him. An experience of God that energised empowered and emboldened them. Suddenly, they were experiencing the fruit of waiting and of using their time of waiting as an opportunity to pray. Without warning, God changed their circumstances miraculously
So, if you are frustrated and tired of waiting for a situation to change, try turning your time of waiting into a time of praying. Perhaps then, you will hear, see and experience God working; unexpectedly, miraculously and fruitfully. A reminder that whatever God does, it is always worth waiting for
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