Listening and waiting

Do you ever watch a football game or a baseball game and wonder what the guys on the bench are doing? I have walked many sidelines both as a player and as a chaplain. I have played a whole lot of baseball and coached girls' softball. It is in my opinion that there are 2 types of bench players. In the same way we have made Christianity into a spectator or bench player type of setting. We think if we aren't preaching, teaching or singing we must be needed to just sit back and listen. Well, that is partially correct, we need to sit back and listen to God.
You see in sports, espectially highschool sports there are 11 players on the field fro each team in football, 9 in baseball and softball. The rest are watching, but I love the ones that follow their coaches on teh sideline. They are not the starters, but they live for the minute that a starter gets tired or needs a play off or a break of some sort. Those players don't have to be called, they are standing there ready to go(some of them even with their mouthpieces already in, I've seen it!) in the game on a seconds glance. Then you have those who are just wandering around, enjoying the company of their teammates, not into the game and hardly found by the coaches. Proverbs speaks to these types of attitudes.
Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors,waiting at my doorway.
My days as a baseball player saw me slowly slip into the roll of relief pitcher on many occasions in highschool. THat meant that I was on the bench watching most of the game, I would make a few trips to the bullpen to warm up and stay loose but for the most part, I was right there on the bench. I made the most of those moments by sitting as close as I could to the coaches, I would learn from them so that when I was in teh game I could almost for sure know what they were thinking before I even got the sign for the pitch or the defensive set up.
GOd is looking for believers who are listening to Him, watching daily at his doors and waiting for His leadership. He doesn't have use for those who are complaining that they aren't being used enough, or those who are just there to pew sit(bench sit) He's looking for people who are attentive to His voice and His leading and ready to spring into action. That's what your greatest trait for God can be, not ability but availability.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!