the best road name of all time
We were driving on the left side of the road when I saw it—the sign I’d been waiting for my whole life.
(And lest you panic thinking we are entirely irresponsible drivers, we were in Victoria, Australia, where driving on the left is required).
I have this mental hangup whenever we’re driving that we absolutely cannot pull the car over on the side of the road for anything. It’s happened on trips to the mountains. On regular drives to work that resulted in flatter than flat, irredeemable tires. In Norway. In Australia. Anywhere we’ve been, I’ve felt conspicuous and like I’m losing time whenever we stop. So, we don’t.
I don’t think Lars sees things this way, however. Whenever we pass something majestic that I want to admire more or snap a photo of, he offers to stop. I always decline. I usually regret it. It’s gotten to the point where Lars will just pull over whether I say I want to or not because of how many times I’ve expressed my disappointment that we didn’t just stop.
It won’t surprise you, then, to find out that we didn’t stop for the sign.
We were on our way to see the Great Ocean Road, and the narrow, winding roads scared me. I didn’t feel comfortable stopping. I didn’t want to waste a single moment of our brief 2-day jaunt down to the famous coastline.
“Did you see that sign!?” I asked Lars, incredulous, as we passed by. The name of the road felt like a mantra for my life. Australians do have the best road names, poetic and fluid.
Lars had seen the sign. “Do you want to go back?” He asked. He already knew what my answer would be. We continued on our merry way. The sound of The Two Towers playing in the cupholder between us continued. I felt a twinge in my heart, wishing we’d stopped.
By the time we arrived at the Twelve Apostles viewpoint, I’d all but forgotten about the sign. The breathtaking limestone structures rose from the ocean like signposts, the cerulean waves slapping against them, salty and strong. Wind whipped our hair around our faces and we could taste the sunscreen we’d hastily applied. We walked down the steps carved into the cliffside onto the sandy beach. The Apostles loomed above us, the early afternoon light breaking around them.
It wasn’t until we’d checked into our Airbnb for the night that I thought about that sign again.
“I really wish we’d stopped for that sign.” I told Lars.
“We can stop on our way back!” He reassured me.
//
Two days later, we found ourselves at The Twelve Apostles again. We’d just finished a gourmet tour of local artisans. Our plan was to stop to see the iconic landmark at a different time of day and then head back to Melbourne to catch our early flight the next morning. That, and to snap a photo of that sign.
It was late in the day by the time we set out. The sun was setting as we weaved through the eucalypts towering above us. Time was running out and there was only so quickly we could go on the serpentine roads with dusk setting in.
Just before we got to the sign, golden sunlight speared its way through the branches of a stand of trees overlooking the bluff. We were mesmerized. Surprise of surprises, we pulled over to soak it in. It was glorious.
We pressed on, arriving at the sign just as the last light was draining from the sky. Purple hues of twilight and the first evening stars were pricking the heavens. And I saw my sign.
Wait A While Rd.
Waiting is not something I’m very good at. I like results and I like them now. I like to see where we’re going, how we’re going to get there, and exactly how long it’s going to take. God usually doesn’t let me in on the plans.
When we’re in the middle of waiting, it’s easy to despair, feeling forgotten. We cry tearful prayers. We beg God to listen. We bang on door after door, trying to find one—just one—that will open for us. We’re not even picky at this point, we just want something to change.
We erroneously believe that once this wait is over, once we get past this one thing, once our situation changes, we’ll be happy. That this place we find ourselves in is the only thing barring us from freedom and contentment.
There will be more waiting after this wait ends, though. If you get past this hallway and into another room, you’ll find that there is another thing you feel you need to be truly happy and free. Maybe a new job. Maybe a spouse. Maybe healing. Maybe purpose and meaning in your life. I don’t know what it is that you’re begging God for, but I do know that we are very fickle creatures and once we do achieve or receive the thing we think we want, it often fails to satisfy the way we hope it will.
[But don’t worry. The story doesn’t end here.]
I know I talk about it a lot, but Psalm 27 is pure gold. It says,
“I would have lost heart unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be of good courage and He will strengthen your heart: wait on the Lord.”
Psalm 27:13-14
Knowing what I know about waiting and our insatiable appetites (always hungry, never satisfied), I can see where David’s coming from when he says he would have lost heart. If we think only of our circumstances, our shortcomings, our frailties, we will despair of hope.
Unless.
Unless we believe that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Not goodness as we define it, but a goodness that’s purer, holier, and heavier than any good thing we can possibly conjure in our minds. A goodness that transcends the unsatisfactory places we find ourselves, that’s good even if where we are isn’t.
That kind of goodness can satisfy. It can fill our scrawny souls with renewed vigor. It can redeem even the most broken of situations. But even if it doesn’t, we can still taste and see that the Lord is good.
And that word wait there? It’s from a Hebrew word meaning “to bind together.” It’s the idea of twisting cords together to strengthen them so they can endure. When it says to wait on the Lord, it means binding yourself to Him. Getting closer. Letting His strength overlap yours when things get too heavy.
Not only are we seeing that the Lord is good, but we are experiencing it in the very deepest parts of our souls, in the tips of our fingers, in the core of our being. Because we are bound to Him with a cord that cannot be broken. His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, wherever we may be.
These are all the thoughts that passed through my mind when I first saw the sign for Wait A While Rd. Because I’ve been waiting a while for some things to change. I’ve been praying. I’ve been pleading. And even here, in the gray area of seemingly unanswered prayers, I have seen the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Even here.
And one of those glimpses was at Wait A While Road.
