Trusting the Process?

Jonathan Joe
Jul 21, 2017 · 5 min read

DISCLAIMER: This is not me. I hope that this article isn’t taken down because I used this picture LOL.

Of recently being a Sixers fan and a christian strangely has had some very similar patterns and behaviors. If you aren’t a basketball fan I want to quickly explain what I mean when I said that a Sixers fan and a christian have become similar recently.The Philadelphia 76ers have purposely lost/thrown away seasons to acquire top college prospects in order to improve the team not just for a short time but for many years to come. In order for this they needed to lose not just a few games but around 80%–90% of the games in that season to have the BEST chance of getting a NO. 1 pick for the draft. Now they started this “tanking” (tanking is the slang term for losing on an industrial level) process in 2013–14 and its just now beginning to look like the fruits are beginning to prosper and show from all the Ls the Sixers have taken. As a fan I had to watch losses pile up and it was so frustrating and hard to support the Sixers in this time. The media began to trash the Sixers and say that it was all for nothing and how this “process” wasn’t going to work. For me after a bit I began to doubt and even think that there was no direction for the team. Honestly it was hard for me to support them. There was a lot of “trusting” and believing on the fans end for the front office people, believing that they knew what they were doing. Hence the term the famous catchphrase of all Sixers fans and basketball fanatics everywhere “TRUST THE PROCESS”. So this year, 2017–2018, is the season where we Sixers fans will see if all this waiting and struggle will be worth it all and I am excited to see what happens.

Like the whole process of being a Sixers fan, being a christian requires this trust and faith not in some group of highly paid individuals but in God. Trusting that God is guiding you and putting people in your life to help you, letting Him take the wheel to take you to the destination that HE desires for you, and giving up what this world has to offer for something even greater, like to believe in that and to have in faith in that is not easy and for me as of recently its beginning to look like the biggest obstacle of my life so far.

I am scared honestly. I HAVE ALL THESE THINGS I WANT BUT IT SIMPLY FEELS LIKE THEY’RE ESCAPING ME AND I AM SO POWERLESS TO GRAB ANYTHING IN MY LIFE. I WANT to work at certain places for my co-op but I am not getting any interview requests, I WANT to travel and see God’s creations but I have classes, and I SO WANT to start this relationship with this special someone in my life but God is telling me to wait and to trust in Him. I pride myself on being a guy who has ambition and if I see something I like I grab it but as of recently I am grabbing nothing but these signs of “Not yet” or “This is not the best for you” from God and its throwing my whole life into disarray. I don’t question His will but I am beginning to feel so upset because His will is so looking so differently than mine.

In my previous blog I wrote about what Joy meant to me and the reason for me having Joy even through hardships. I still feel this overwhelming joy because no matter how I look at it I can not see anything negative for God putting such struggles in my life. But it is hard to realize these things as it happens and thats the part that sucks so much.

So much can change in a couple months and thats the part that scares me the most if anything. What if all the things I want to pursue don’t work out the way I want them to? Where do I go from here? God what is it that you are trying to tell me?

I seriously have no answers and no set plan right now for how I will respond to any of those questions but I just gotta trust.

The reason why I put that particular picture in the beginning of this post is because there was this sermon that I heard when I was in 8th grade that stuck with me all these years. One of the most powerful illustrations this Pastor said in his Sermon was “Imagine you climb this mountain, lets say Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world and you’re at the tallest point of this mountain. How do you feel? Do you feel accomplished? Look at how much work you put in to get where you are. You are proud of what you did knowing that there isn’t a point in the world higher than where you are. But God tells you to jump off because there is a place higher than Mt. Everest but you don’t believe God. I mean look at where you are, you are at the top of Mt. Everest. You say to yourself “what are you talking about, I just did all of this and you’re telling me to jump off NO WAY am I jumping down. I am gonna die” God repeats himself and tells you to jump off. Do you do it and obey God and trust that he has a plan if you jump off or do you just walk down trusting the path you know?” He finished his story there and I was like WHAT HAPPENED, WHATS THE CONCLUSION. The pastor said the way the story ends is up to how we carry our lives as children of God do we trust God will take us higher or will we go down”. It was such an intriguing illustration of faith and I want to live my life jumping off that mountain and trusting God.

God I trust you so much right now that you will make things good.

Peace.

Psalm 86:10–11

“10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name.”

P.S. I AM REALLY ENJOYING BLOGGING LOL ITS SO FUN~~

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Jonathan Joe
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