Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: hope

overwait — June 10, 2026

overwait

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Some of us are overwait! – W.A.I.T.   OK, maybe I should explain. 

One of my joys these days is singing about Jesus with my wife and a dear friend.  Not long ago we did a program for some senior adults.  Present was a woman of Japanese descent. We were told that she was 94 years old.  

She approached us after the concert.  It was clear that she had been moved by our ministry of song.  In fact, with tears of appreciation she said to us, “I have waited 92 years for this!” 

Wow! I am not so great with math, but it appears that she had been waiting to hear us sing since she was 2 years old.  I felt like we should apologize for having taken so long. 

Waiting is the worst – isn’t it?  At the Tex Mex place we fill up on tortilla chips while waiting for our fajitas to be served.  We go to the doctor’s office about an infection, but risk dying of old age as we wait to be seen. 

And of course, it seems that we are often waiting on God.  We hope and pray for change, but the boss is still unreasonable, and the kid is still incorrigible, and the paycheck is still laughable.

And yet waiting seems to be a purposeful part of God’s plan for us.  There are multiple times in the Scripture where we are urged to wait on the Lord.  For instance, David wrote in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” – NIV

But why must we wait?   Why does God, who is clearly Lord over time, make us wait? 

Well suppose that every time that we pray, God immediately responds.  I mean immediately – like a vending machine.  Push a button and He drops down exactly what we order.  If this were so, how might that affect us? 

– We would become His Lord and He would become our slave.  I’m not sure I could worship a God like that. 

– It would also feed our tendency to be self-centered which would spill over into our relationships with others.  Selfishness is a cancer that grows.   

– We might get what we ask for but not what we need.  I once pleaded with God for a new job.  He provided one but I earned less than what I was making before.  I got what I wanted but not what I needed.   As we wait, we have time to consider what we seek and why we want it and adjust our prayers accordingly.

– Also our faith in God would be weak and undeveloped.  That would be tragic in that He once said to us, without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)  By waiting for God, we affirm and grow our faith – believing He is in sovereign control, and that He will eventually demonstrate His love for us.

Are you waiting on God these days? Take some encouragement from the words of Isaiah who wrote, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is an eternal God, the Creator of the whole earth. He does not get tired or weary; there is no limit to his wisdom. He gives strength to those who are tired; to the ones who lack power, he gives renewed energy.  Even youths get tired and weary;

even strong young men clumsily stumble.  But those who wait for the Lord’s help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired” – Isaiah 40:28-31. 

Isaiah wants us to know that, despite the wait, God is still on the throne and in complete control.  And as we wait, He will supply the wisdom and strength and the energy we need.    

It’s kinda like He is the waiter that resupplies the chips while we wait for the fajitas.

A PRAYER: Lord sustain us while we patiently wait on You

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always

Scripture references are from the NETBible® unless otherwise noted.

green stamp hope — August 7, 2019

green stamp hope

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james ray johnson

Mom had her hope set on a plastic plant that was rooted in Styrofoam, surrounded by 8 cedar planks and bound by brass bands.  Back in the 50’s this was considered to be attractive! 

My dad worked awfully hard, often 2 jobs, but money always seemed to be tight.  We were not poor, but we were the next thing to it.  We couldn’t afford such an item, but mom had a plan. 

Each week, the grocer gave her S&H Green Stamps in proportion to what she spent on groceries.  With 5 kids to feed, that was a lot of brown paper bags full.  One day she gathered her stamps and drafted us kids to fill her redemption books.  We licked ourselves silly.

Then all 7 of us jumped into our 56 Chevy wagon and headed to the redemption center where mom traded her green stamps for her heart’s desire – one cedar planter. 

She was happy!  She finally had some “nice” in the midst of the drab.  She proudly placed it in the living room for all to see and she really enjoyed it – for most of one day.  

See we were a wrestling bunch.  We kids liked to mix it up with dad on the floor.   Well he flipped one of us the wrong direction and crash went the planter.  It was flatter than mom’s expression when she saw it.   

She held her tongue while dad got out the tool box, with which he was known to do wondrous things.  He once took a bicycle kickstand and refashioned it into a car gear shifter.  So he used his screws and glues and the planter was restored.  Sure, there was a chipped board and a dangling leaf, but it was still sorta nice.

Days later, another kid planted themselves on the planter.   Dad worked his magic again, but it looked – well – it was looking more like the décor of the Frankenstein household.   Mom was a saint.  She said nothing. 

The cataclysmic cycle was repeated yet again.  Mom was living the sequel to the movie Groundhog Day.

And then – a fourth crash.  But this time, mom got to the wreckage before dad and she stomped it into cedar splinters and plastic plant pulp.  She wasn’t going to leave anything that dad could possibly resurrect. 

Her hope of having something nice died with that last crash.  She could hope no more.

Hope sometimes dies!

He hoped to get promoted at work.  He gave it his best, but 5 years later he was still lodged in the same cramped cubicle.  He quit trying and settled into 8 hours a day of apathy.

She was a writer who hoped to get her novel published.  It wasn’t!  After 56 letters of rejection, she threw her manuscript in the burn pile.

A young man hoped for years that his inattentive wife might change.  She wouldn’t!  He eventually stomped on that hope when he left her for another. 

Oh, for a hope that will not disappoint!   

Oh, but there is such a hope!

Titus 1:2 speaks of the “hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before time began.”   NET Bible®   Eternal life is a never ending, blissfully, sweet existence in the company of Jesus and all our friends and family who have ever loved Him. 

According to the verse, God promised this eternal life before time began.  And since God is all knowing and all powerful and because He cannot lie, then we can count on it.

This hope will never disappoint. It is possessed only by those who have trusted Christ to remove their sins.

It’s ironic that the cedar wood in mom’s planter is valued for its ability to resist rot and insect damage.  Yet, it can’t begin to compare to the durability of our eternal hope.

Mom gave up on her prized planter, but she has held fast to the hope of eternal life.  She has passed on and is now enjoying that hope that will never be broken or even lamely patched.

My dad is trying his best to join her.  Any day now, he too will enter that place of sweet eternal hope.  But for mom’s sake, I hope he leaves his tool box behind.