“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” — Psalm 27:14

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John Lindsey spent 16 seasons waiting for a phone call that many baseball players dream about but few ever receive. Drafted in 1995 by the Colorado Rockies, he spent nearly two decades riding buses, sleeping in cheap hotels and grinding through the endless summer schedule of Minor League Baseball. By 2010, he was 33 years old — an age when most players are either in the big leagues or already retired and on to the next journey in their professional life.

Then the call finally came. The Los Angeles Dodgers wanted him in the majors. The wait was over.

Sixteen years of waiting, working and wondering — all for a journey that lasted only 11 games.

That same kind of perseverance was seen again in Drew Maggi, who made his MLB debut in 2023 after 13 years and 1,155 minor league games. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2010, his story went viral when the Pirates finally called him up. He had bounced around between five other organizations before getting his chance in the bigs with the organization where it all started for him.

One can only imagine the hoping, dreaming and waiting that both of these men endured. Seeing other players come through and get the call, while waiting patiently for their own call, couldn’t have been easy. Surely there were moments when both wondered if they’d ever get that call. Surely they wondered if it was time to hang it up and give up on the dream.

Both men remind us that waiting isn’t wasted when it’s worshipful.

Scripture is full of people who waited — Abraham for a son, Joseph for freedom, David for the throne, and even Jesus for the appointed hour of His ministry. God often does His deepest work in the space between the promise and the fulfillment.

Psalm 27:14 (above) says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

But the world around us now is addicted to immediacy. We expect results quickly and become anxious when we don’t get them. While it may seem passive, waiting is actually an active trust that God’s timing is better than our striving.

Rushing and hurrying often causes us deep anxiety because inherently we know our souls weren’t created for that pace. Instead, they were made for an eternal place void of the constraints of time with a God who is never in a hurry. It’s hard for us to understand that, but we can draw inspiration from those in the Bible, and these athletes who have exhibited immense patience and trust in the process.

John Lindsey could have quit. Drew Maggi could have walked away. Both men chose to stay faithful and determined even though they never knew when or if their moment would come. Most of us have something we are waiting on. For my wife and me, we’ve endured years of infertility and waiting for God to bless us with a child. There have been many times where I’ve wondered if parenthood is a part of God’s plan for us.

Patience is rarely easy or fun. But it’s necessary for God to do the work in us to form us into who He has designed us to be.

Whether you’re an athlete waiting for your breakthrough, a coach waiting for a new opportunity, or simply someone waiting for God to move in your life, remember: The wait itself can be holy.

God may not be asking you to wait for the major leagues, but He may be asking you to trust Him in a season that feels like the minors — unseen, uncelebrated and unending. Yet it’s there, in the long bus rides of life, that faith is forged and character is formed.

As you wait, don’t waste it. Worship through it. Because sometimes, the greatest victory isn’t when the call finally comes — it’s in choosing to believe that God is still good while you’re waiting for it.

— Cole Claybourn

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