Just Wait!

I'm beginning to wonder, is the economy really as bad as they say it is or have we just reached the point in this country where the answer to every need is "wait"? Here is why I am asking this question. Let's start with my AC service. I have a plan with Lefflers that calls for an annual spring check-up. Our unit is located in the crawl space of our ranch style home and it gets brutally hot up there. The service men always want to do it first in the morning before the heat builds up. A few weeks ago I called to get an appointment and I was told that they weren't yet scheduling, call back in a few weeks. So I called back a few days ago and am now told that the first morning appointment that they have available is June 28 - seven weeks away. And what will no doubt happen is that day will be too hot and they'll have to reschedule it - probably until September. They promised to call me if a slot opens up but I'm not holding my breath - it might get too hot to do that. Then there is my plumber. I need a leaking faucet replaced in my small bathroom. I have no hot water because of the bad faucet. I made the mistake, four weeks ago, of saying that it wasn't an emergency. Three times we have been told - "next week". And I am still waiting. Then there is our tree man, a certified arborist, who left a pile of limbs when he did work at our place on April 15. He promised to come back in a week to dispose of them. Almost a month later, despite a call to remind him, we are still waiting. Of course he received his check from us on time. Then we ordered two large trees from a local nursery to replace the five we had taken out. We paid to have them delivered and planted but then were told that it would take four to six weeks until they could do the work. So we wait while they hold our money. Of course the rainy weather has backed them up and I guess I can understand that. The same must be true of our mulch which we ordered in early April and are still waiting to have delivered and placed in our flower beds. Then there is the tombstone - What a gruesome topic! We ordered it last Fall and gave them a check for half of the cost. It was to be installed as soon as they could pour the cement base in the spring. We are still waiting. Hopefully we won't need to use it before it is delivered. Two weeks ago we distributed survey forms to our Awana staff asking them to tell us if they plan to return next year. One of the options they could check was for those that were undecided. They could simply indicate a date when they could give us a final answer. Simple enough? This was to be returned to us no later than May 8. We need them to begin our planning for next year. With a major program like Awana one can't "wait" until August to do the planning if you want an effective program. As of today we are still waiting for 31 of them to be returned. So maybe it's not the economy, maybe its society. Maybe we have learned to go at our own speed and on our own time schedule, no matter how it affects others. Then there are doctor appointments. We could tell many stories about this but let's settle for a recent experience. Dianne had to make two appointments with specialists. She was told that she had to wait two months for one and four months for the other. In the second case she actually changed doctors because her regular doctor couldn't see her until August. Hopefully your problems can "wait" until a doctor can see you. So the answer appears to be, just - wait. Now there is one event that I am patiently waiting for - the return of Christ. Hopefully it will come before any of the other things that I am now waiting for are actually completed. (But I don't really think it will happen May 20 as some are predicting.) And I won't be like my father-in-law who asked the funeral director when he prepaid his funeral expenses, "If the rapture comes before I die, do I get my money back?" In this case, if they are left behind, they may keep my money ... and the tombstone and the trees. I won't need the mulch or the new faucet or even the doctor appointments. I can hardly wait! Hopefully it won't be long. Keep looking up!