Coconut Apostles: Principle #5

Disclaimer: Image is not from Conrad's Vanuatu trip. Image is used to visualise the story. Photograph courtesy of Artem Maltsev on Unsplash.

400 students in Vanuatu sat politely and quietly while we called for volunteers to act out a parable. No one was moving so I moved down off the stage to choose some teenagers. My colleague John, who was never patient, stopped me. He said we must wait.

Soon, two of the most animated and boisterous lads volunteered. They enthusiastically acted out the parable and, in response, almost the whole school, including some of the teachers, decided to start following Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

I wanted to perform and save the day by motivating teenagers to volunteer, but John had a better way. He told me to wait and let the Holy Spirit choose the actors. It was difficult for me to wait and not try to make it happen (by “volunteering” people).

John taught me a powerful lesson. We may be able to make things happen (like selecting people to act out a parable) but it is better to wait and give God time to make something happen. When we make things happen we get our results. When God makes things happen we get God’s results.

I used to jump in. Now I wait more patiently and ask God to do more than I could imagine.