The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What Are You Doing Waiting in Line?

Episode Date: February 12, 2021

We spend so much time standing in lines, why not make the best of it? Today, Jeff talks about 8 ways we can take advantage of the time we spend standing in line. Snippet from the Show “How will the result at the end of the line benefit your relationship with the Lord?” Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail] Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

You're listening to the Jeff Kavana's show, episode 205. What are you doing, waiting in line? Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show.

Thank you so much for, joining me. I am indoors today because deep in the woods, in fact, deep into any area of Minnesota for the next two days, we're going to be getting down to nearly in the, in the southern part of the state, about 20 degrees below zero wind chills of upwards of 40 below zero. Wisdom says, get a book, some hot tea, stay inside. But I want to spend some time with you and talk to you about, of course, all things, discipleship, reading the Bible. The Bible in a year, still going very, very strong. Two days ago, I went up to Father Mike's house, and we spent the afternoon talking about this and just having a great time and really do, I really, really appreciate his

friendship. So continue to pray for us, and we will pray for you. If you would like show notes, All you've got to do is text my name, Jeff Kavins, to 33777. All right. I did this. I did this in the 1970s just prior to an Elton John concert. I did this at registration for college. I did this at the airport for 45 minutes. I did this at the grocery store.

store during COVID. I did this before my daughter took part in a play, and I did this before I went into the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. And just last week, I did this for 20 minutes trying to get into Trader Joe's. What am I talking about? I'm talking about waiting in line. Waiting in line. We're going to talk about how much we wait in line. There's some new statistics out that are very interesting. And to be honest with you, I think this is one of those topics where we're aware of it for sure, you know, that a lot of our life has spent waiting in lines, but we don't really analyze it. We don't want to do anything about it. It's kind of just something that we put up with. I still remember back in January of 2007, I think it was January 9th, 2007. Mr. Steve Jobs

announced a new iPhone that did three things. You know, it wasn't just a phone. It wasn't just a, you know, a database, or it wasn't just a camera. It was, it was all three. And everybody was talking about it. And everybody was waiting. And then it came about that in June of 2007, it was going on sale at stores around the country. And yours truly got up really early. in the morning, and I waited in line outside of Ridgdale Mall in the Twin Cities. I was seventh in line, and I waited for close to 12 hours to get an iPhone. You might say, well, that says a lot about your priorities. Well, it probably did, be honest with you. But I waited, and I was number seven, and there was something about being in that line that brought everybody together, that we had something in common. and, you know, how long you've been using Apple? What computer do you have? How much rammed?

It was like a, it was like a Woodstock technical concert type of thing. And I found it more interesting just to watch human nature. I really did. You know, when we wait in line, and I'm going to give you some ideas of what to do when you wait in line of how to redeem the time rather than just doing nothing. I think there's better times in life to do nothing than just waiting in line, especially since you're a disciple of the Lord interacting with the public, interacting with society. You never know, you just might have an opportunity. You might have an opportunity. You know, we wait in line because there's something of value to us that we are willing to exchange time for we're willing to exchange effort to get it but it's usually time doing nothing we're just

standing there we're just standing there waiting to exchange this time for for an experience or for some type of thing or an opportunity to get a powerball ticket or whatever it might be today's your day this is your powerball and it's worth standing there for half an hour to get to get your tickets. So it's actually a decision that we make that I have this much time and I'm willing to sacrifice this much time for what I think I'm going to get out of the other end of this line. But also think about it. If you are in line, you're also not alone. Other people have a desire as well.

And that says something about us, doesn't it? It says something about human nature and what we're all looking for and the opportunities and the stuff that we all want. And we're all willing to exchange our time, which is, in the end, so precious. It really is precious, isn't it? There is a common longing for better or for worse. In today's technology, a lot of people are saying, you know, the heck with that, I'm not standing in line.

I'm just going to go to Amazon Prime. It's going to be right at my door, but I'm not. not standing in line. But still, this last year during COVID, people still found, you know, many opportunities where they had to stand in line, even to get the COVID shot six feet apart, but they were willing to stand to find out the information that they were longing for. Do I have it? Do I not have it? Should I be, you know, quarantined? Do I protect my family? Standing in line. Have you ever waited in line? I've done this before. I've done this before or I'm looking out at the top of the line at the end there by the store and thinking,

man, I'm going to be waiting here for like 45 minutes to get in. And you wait about 10 minutes. You look up at the front, you know, kind of bend your neck around and look to see if it's moving much. And then suddenly you say, forget this noise. I'm out of here. I'm not standing in line for this. Well, what you did is you made a judgment that what's at the other end of this little rainbow that I'm standing in.

isn't worth another half an hour of my life. I'm not going to do this. You know, according to a source, it was an intern at the Bloomberg News. They did this study about the iPhone 7 when it was unveiled in New York. And the first man that stood in line to get the iPhone 7, he stood in the, as they say, the queue across the pond. He said he had been standing in that line. So, since August 25th, which means more than 10 days before the iPhone 7 was unveiled. Now, in New York, strange things certainly do happen. Like a spot in a line for a phone that somebody's going to sell for $300. Not the phone, the spot.

I'm going to stand there and I'm going to stand there for 10 hours, two days, whatever it is. and then I'm going to sell my place in line for $300, such a way to make a living, right? Well, a pro-line sitter, I'm not kidding, I didn't make that up. That's what the article says. A pro-line sitter, if you're unemployed, you might want to consider this. A pro-line sitter, that's someone who professionally sits in lines, claimed that he got paid $3,400 per week just to wait there. Tents have been pitched on the pavement outside the shop, and several people were sitting in a foldable chair.

Wow. How will the thing, again, how will the thing or the experience or the benefit at the end of the line fit into God's will for your life, for the overarching plan that God has for you? Is it worth giving your time for? If so, is there anything that you can do while waiting? A lot of people say, well, not nothing, but I'm not suggesting that we do absolutely nothing, but, but we do drift, don't we? When we stand in line, sometimes we drift away, we worry, we become impatient, we get angry of things we're seeing. Listen, American spend a staggering 37 billion with a B hours waiting in line every year. And for at least a portion of these hours, we do, so voluntarily. It's not uncommon to see lines for concerts, pop-up restaurants, the latest tech gadgets, as I mentioned. Yet as human beings, we value our time. Long lines not only bore us, but they're also very, very stressful. I'll give you a few more statistics here. Then we're

going to take a break. Then I'm going to share with you some really cool ideas of what you could actually do in line as an activated disciple, as a follower of Jesus Christ. Get this, on average, 20 minutes a day. People wait for the bus or train. 32 minutes whenever they visit a doctor. 32 minutes. You tell you to come in at 3, but you know very well you're getting in at 332, right? 28 minutes in security lines whenever they travel. That's at the smaller airports. 21, what, 21 minutes for a significant other to get ready to go out. 13 hours annually waiting on hold for customer service. Man, do I know that?

Hey, we didn't even talk about that, did we? We're just talking about physical lines, but how many of you really look forward to the joy of being put on hold for customer service? And what are you doing during that time? Can you redeem the time? The apostle Paul says, we need to redeem the time. know the will of God. 13 hours annually waiting on hold for customer service.

What about this? 38 hours each year waiting, guess where? 38 hours a year waiting in traffic. You are right, in traffic. And those living in big cities wait in traffic more than 50 hours annually. That's 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. Somewhere. Somewhere. Okay, so that's a lot of time. That's a lot of time. Now, as disciples of the Lord, we could say that, you know, there's nothing I can do about it, Jeff. I just, that's the way life is. You got to wait, you know.

27 days of my life have been waiting around on the platform at the bus station. Three days a year just, standing in line at different, you know, different places. Get this. One more thing. The average person spends about 43 days on hold with automated customer service, 43 days of their life. What did you do with those 43 days? That's what we're talking about today, redeeming the time, making the most of every opportunity. When we come back, I'm going to give you some good ideas on what to do while you stand in line. This is the Jeff K. and show. Hi, I'm Sonia Corbett, the Bible study Evangelista, and a Baptist turned Catholic.

As a Baptist, I thought that Catholic beliefs were invented, that they came out of nowhere and had no connection whatsoever to the Bible. I also happened to believe that the Old Testament was about rules, rituals, and sacrifices that the New Testament gave us permission to ignore for a personal relationship with Jesus. It's a long story, but as God began connecting the Old and New Testaments for me, I was stunned by the beautiful consistency of God in the Catholic Church. I can't tell you how exciting it was when God opened my eyes to the incredible ways the Old Testament foreshadows God's plan for the New Testament and for his Catholic Church. In my book fulfilled, uncovering the biblical roots of Catholicism, I explain these amazing connections

and I share how those connections helped change my life. If you read this book, I promise that you will come away with tools to help you share your Catholic faith easily, answer questions about how your Catholic faith fits with what's in the Bible, and most importantly, grow deeper in your relationship with Christ. If you're interested in learning more or ordering a copy of fulfilled, uncovering the biblical roots of Catholicism, you can do so at ascensionpress.com or on Amazon. I've been waiting for you.

I've been waiting for you to come back after that little ad there. We're talking about what are you doing waiting in line. I think that it's pretty easy to demonstrate that there is a good percentage of our life that is spent waiting, whether it's online, in person, doctor's office, wherever it might be. But do you have a plan? Do you have a plan for what you can do while you're waiting that would allow you to do several things? One, redeem the time, make the most of it. There are things that you need to think of.

about things that you need to do. You can make the most of it. Number one. Number two, you can be situationally aware of what is going on around you. And I'll get into this just for a few minutes, but you can be situationally aware. I remember taking a defense class one time, and they were talking about these codes, color codes of awareness, wherever you go. You know, and I'll apply it to standing in line today. They had what they called code white. And code white. And code white, white is everybody in line has their head, their face buried in their smartphone. Everybody has both arms up, hands in the prayer position in front of them, whether they know that or not, and they are buried in that little piece of glass and plastic. And they're putting little

cat faces of filters over their faces and talking and giggling. You don't have to write me. I'm not I'm not against putting filters on, but this is what they're doing. This is what they're doing standing in line. That's code white. You're pretty vulnerable. You're unaware of what's going on around you. Now, that's a bad thing when it comes to safety, but that's really a bad thing, too, when it comes to our responsibility to be a part of society and to have something to say

to people who might, you might hear something, you might see something, and you are needed as a disciple of Jesus. So code white, oblivious. These people are oblivious. And then after that, you have code yellow. And code yellow is, I'm aware of what's going on around me. I'm listening. I'm looking at faces.

I hear conversations. I hear loudspeakers. You know, I can see people are tired and so forth. I'm aware. And then code orange, something's up. Someone said something. It's got my attention. And then code red.

you put the plan into practice. Get out of there or whatever you need to do. And in this case, engage, engage people, all right? So standing in line, we can be in code white and oblivious, but I'm going to encourage you to be in code yellow. That is aware of your surroundings. So is this time standing in line waiting on the phone? Is it worth what you're waiting for at the end. If it is, then there are some things that you can do. If it isn't, you might want to get out of line or hang up. So let's just go through a few of these.

I think they're kind of fun, kind of helpful, but it's good. One thing that you can do is you can get one of these little notebooks. You can get a little notebook, like a little moleskin notebook or a softbound little mullskin notebook and you got a pen with you. And you can actually write down some things that you need to think through. or a scripture that you want to memorize or people that you want to pray for, whatever it might be, you can take that little journal with you and you can take it out when suddenly you realize, I'm going to have 15 minutes here.

And I know a lot of people will use it as an opportunity to call in business, but you can also use it as an opportunity to be a blessing to someone. So here's what I recommend. Number one is get some kind of little notebook that you can take with you that you can refer to when time opens up. Also, you may want to have a Bible on that phone. So if you are going to be looking at it, maybe you can read a little bit of the daily reading. Or better yet, here's a new one, Bible in a Year podcast with earbuds. Let Father Mike read to you while you're standing in line, while you're waiting, and we'll navigate through the Bible.

Together, it's a lot of fun. But as your standing there, I would really encourage you to listen. Listen to the person in front of you. Listen to the person behind you if you are actually in a physical cue, a line somewhere. Sorry, the British is coming out now. So listen to what's happening around you. You will be surprised at what you hear. My wife and I, we take walks a lot, mainly in the spring, summer, and fall, and we walk around this small lake and we kind of have this little game that we play where you hear people walking by you and all you hear is like 10 seconds 15 seconds and we guess what they're going through in life but just literally in a 10 second span 15 seconds it's amazing what

you can gather that someone's father just had a heart attack a spouse had a stroke so-and-so's kids are struggling with alcoholism. Their son was kicked out of school. Their brother is struggling with depression. You can hear so much. Now, I'm not saying you just turn around and say, hey, I understand your brother is struggling with depression. This is your day because I'm in line with you.

That's not what I'm talking about. But what I'm saying is that if you listen, there might be an opportunity to be good news to the person. So make a practice out of listening. It's also a good chance that when you're waiting in line, you can just put everything down and use that time to pray for your family. A lot of times, you know, we ask people, how's your prayer life? And they will say, well, you know, it could be better, which means it stinks.

And so if you say, well, you know what, Lord, I want to make this deal, if I'm going to stand in line and I've already determined that, my time is worth what I'm going for here. Lord, I'm going to pray for my family. If it's five minutes or ten minutes or seven, whatever it is, I'm going to pray for my family. And you can put in your notebook too. You can put some of the needs of family members to pray. But the idea is use the time. Now, I'm not saying you've got to be busy 24-7. That's not what I'm advocating here at all. I'm saying that use something that's going to happen. and instead of just drifting off into nothingness, use it.

Say, I'm going to use that as an opportunity. Pray for your family. Maybe another idea would be to meditate on the gospel reading that day. You know, my wife and I, we pray every morning, and we read the gospel every morning, according to the liturgy. And wow, it's amazing how often the truths coming out of that gospel are pertinent to that day. They're applicable. They resonate with what I'm going through that day.

And if you will take the time that you use, you know, or the time that you're waiting in line, think of over a lifetime how much you could just meditate on God's Word. And I'll tell you, if you meditate on God's Word standing in a 20-minute line, this is a guarantee from the show here or your money back, you are going to have less of a tendency to get angry or say something to someone else who budded in line because you know that is the worst thing that can happen in your day is someone would butt into line before you. It's unconscionable. It shouldn't happen in America. There should be laws about it. But it could happen. And so when you're meditating on the

gospel of the day, I think that you stand a better chance of people who are budding in line and not getting upset with them. You know, another thing that you can do while you're waiting in line, you can praise God. Praise God. And you can do this right there, standing in line or waiting on the phone. You can just in your mind, if you are in public, but if you're not in public and you are at home and you know that you are on hold, why? Because you really dig that classical music. that you're listening to, you can just out loud, just begin to praise God. Lord, I praise you and I thank you. You are so wonderful and faithful. And Lord, I know that with what I'm facing this next week, I know, Lord, you too will be faithful. You are beautiful and marvelous. You are

holy and totally, totally different than anything. You are my heart's desire. You are everything that is beautiful put together. Now, if they come back early and they hear you, that might create another opportunity. Maybe they'll say, hey, are you a Christian? No, I just talk like that. Of course, I'm a Christian, right? And it could be an opportunity there. I'm often reminded of that bracelet, WWJD, what would Jesus do?

And that is an interesting idea, isn't it, to wonder what would Jesus do if he was standing in a line. What would he do? Would he be buried in iTunes or would he be searching for things on Amazon Prime? I mean, what would he be doing if he was waiting in line? That is an interesting idea. I'm going to think about that. I'm going to try to learn something from that after meditating on it that I can apply in my own life. What would Jesus do? Wow. Well, here's another idea. Pray for those behind you and pray for those in front of you. You might not know their name. You've never seen them before. But for some reason, for some reason, you have determined that whatever is at the front of that line is worth your time. And if it truly is, is it possible

that God put that person who also thought that what was at the end of the line was worth their time? is it possible that you're there to pray for them? Pray for those who are behind you and pray for those who are in front of you. If the one lady looks at her watch and says behind you, she says, man, I'm going to miss this thing. I've got to get up there. My kids, I'm waiting. I don't have the, let her go up.

Just say, hey, let's switch places. Random act of kindness. Here's one, too. Work on virtue. Determine the virtues that you really need, the vices that you are struggling with, and take a little bit of time and do some heavy lifting, some thinking, some praying, some introspection on what you can do to exercise virtue in your life. Maybe it's in the middle of the line. Maybe it's, you want to start with patience right there. You can write this in your little

book, too. What is God working on you about right now? What is it? What topic is it? What advice is something that God would want to work with you on if he had 10 minutes of you doing nothing? Here's another one. Thank God for his blessings. That's a real good thing. Thank God for his blessings. All the wonderful things that he has done in your life and he's brought into your life. Again, I'll ask, how will the thing or the experience or the benefit at the end of the line fit into God's will for your life? That's the last thing I would share with you is that you might want to just think about how, whatever at the end of this line, how is that going to benefit your life? relationship with the Lord, and how might you use that for his glory? Now, right now you might be saying, well, Jeff, boy, that sounds like an intense time of waiting in line. No, I'm not advocating an intense period of time, but I am advocating going from doing nothing and being frustrated and just waiting it out to using it as an opportunity. You don't have to do all of them. You don't have to do all of them.

You could just say, I'm going to do these two things. Every time I get an opportunity, you call on the phone and they say, I'm going to put you on hold, but I'll be back in just a few minutes. Is that okay? You bet it's okay, yeah, because I got some praising to do here. And I've got some time now for the next two minutes. I can read the gospel if you got that notebook with you. Because if you go on your app, you run the risk of losing them on the phone.

We've all done that. Okay. So that's what I wanted to share with you today. And I don't know where it came from, but I think it came actually, I was waiting in line last week to go into Trader Joe's. This is not a commercial forum. And I stood there for, I think, 15 minutes, something like that with my arms crossed. It was cold. And it suddenly hit me. Why am I just standing here? Can't I do something with my time? Paul said, read. deem the time for the days are evil. Know the will of the Lord. You might think about the will of the Lord and you might wait 20 minutes in line and about three minutes before you are to the front of the line. You might have just plain discerned yourself out of the line. Well, it's been good being with you. I want you to know that I love you. I'm praying for you. And again, if you want to go through the Bible in a year with Father Mike Schmitz and myself. You can go to the show notes and all of the links are there. You'll get your PDF and you can join us. You can do that anytime during

the year. And Father Mike and I are going to Israel in June and I'll have that information at www.jofcavens.com pilgrimages. All the information is there if you would like to join us in the Holy Land. It's open at this point. We're going to bet on it. We're hoping. And we encourage you to to jump in there. Let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I thank you for my friends who join me every week. I thank you for putting us together at this time in history. I ask you, O God, to bless them and to help them to use the times in life which are typically frustrating or discouraging and to turn those into a blessing and an opportunity. Thank you, Lord, for the time that you have given us. May we truly be stewards and

May we change our relationship with time and see it as a golden opportunity. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I love you, my friend. God bless and have a great week.