I was enjoying my Labor Day weekend with some jetski therapy and I learned something. (Yes, jetskis can be therapeutic!) My family has spent a lot of holidays like this at my in-laws lakehouse on Toledo Bend here in Texas. We had a great day enjoying a surprisingly pleasant weather day for this time of year. Daniel, my 13 year old son, who would later have an epic knee board wipe-out, and I were taking the jetski out on the first run of the day. Now, I had not planned on learning anything that day,  I just want to make that clear. Toledo Bend is a large resevoir on the Sabine River which seperates Texas from Lousiana. It is full of stumps which makes it a fisherman's paradise and a skier's nightmare. Yet we ski. In order to avoid said stumps, boaters navigate along safe routes by following countless miles of buoys. As we were approaching a buoy, Daniel, who was driving,  asked me "where is the next marker?" I looked and did not see it either, UNTIL we actually reached the buoy closest to us. And then I saw the familiar shape through the splashing water. I pointed it out to him and off we went... rapidly I must add. This was after all... therapy!

All of a sudden, there it was, the lesson I didn't know I needed. This is exactly the way I treat God and his directions. It is not enough for me to be able to see my objective that is right in front of me. Oh no, I insist on knowing where the next marker is as well. This causes me to be impatient and discontented. Now, the worst thing to do on a jetski in a stump infested lake is to charge off without seeing the next buoy. Sometimes those next markers are not easy to see, and to set off without a bearing could end badly. In the same way, when I can't see God's next objective for me, I tend to set out in a direction that seems to make sense to me. This rarely works out well, but I never seem to learn how to identify this kind of situation. I need to be willing to hang out around my current situation and see what God has put in front of me. This is true even when the next marker does not show itself right away. God has this thing about teaching me things at the least obvious times and situations.   In the waiting and seeking God, I tend to learn and grow.

So I wait, and seek, and learn, and grow and try to be content... and look for the next marker.