Not “When” or “How”, But “Who”
Even though I was never a Boy Scout, I’m one of those guys that likes to be prepared. But not just a little bit prepared – I must be wildly prepared. When the power to our house goes out, our multi-thousand dollar whole-house generator automatically kicks in. It can easily provide all our power needs for at least a week. And when power is restored, the generator automatically turns off. But that’s only the start.
When the 36 mega roles pack of toilet paper in the garage is about half used, I immediately go out and buy another. I always, always, always have new, full bottles of laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid at the ready. As soon as we open one of them, I run right out and buy another backup to replace it.
Why? Because the thought of being unprepared, of running out, is just too painful. If I was to cause this kind of awful agony and suffering to my family, I wouldn’t feel like a failure. No, those aren’t strong enough words. There would be no doubt, no wiggle-room. I’d be a total failure. At least, that’s the tsunami of thoughts that would flood my head.
Now I don’t know if running out of toilet paper or detergent will push your panic and failure button like it does mine. But we all have at least one. There’s something in this life that we’re absolutely scared of. Why? Because it will make us feel unprepared. Like a total failure. It could be not achieving something. Getting caught doing something. Or not doing something expected.
Maybe you’re like me and have never appeared in a musical. But that doesn’t matter. Somewhere inside all of us there’s a Maria Augusta Kuczera who’s lost, needing direction and encouragement in this life. We’re desperate for someone to take us aside and tell us what to do. How to live. We need someone to sing this song from The Sound of Music 1 .
Climb every mountain, Search high and low
Follow every highway, Every path you know.Climb every mountain, Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow, ‘Till you find your dream. 2
The American dream, or nightmare, says that we must work hard – climbing every mountain. We have to search high and low, crossing every stream, never giving up. We will follow every highway and rainbow, examining every opportunity and option. And we’ll never give up till we find our dream.
At the end of all this climbing, searching, clawing, scratching, and exhausting effort, we hope to arrive. To prove to ourselves and the world that we’re able to handle anything and everything. That nothing’s too hard for us. We’re champions. We’re overcomers.
But there’s a problem. No matter what we do, no matter what we accomplish, it’s never enough. There’s always, always, always something more. Something bigger. Something better.
After Alex Honnold climbed the 3,000 feet of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without a rope, he moved on to scale Ingmikortilaq. It’s was an unclimbed Arctic sea cliff in Greenland that’s taller than El Capitan. Then there was Mount Fenris in Antarctica followed by scaling the Taipei 101-floor skyscraper without a rope live on Netflix.
Scottie Scheffler, number one golfer in the world for almost four years, knows this kind of pressure and emptiness very well. Before, during, and after every tournament, he’s asked over and over about his past wins, winning this week, and then winning in the future. Listen carefully to his answer during a press conference.
Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don’t know. Because if I win, it’s going to be awesome for about two minutes. And then we’re going to go to the next week and it’s going to be like, hey, you won two majors this year. How important is it for you to win the FedEx Cup? The nature of the sport will simply be to move on to next week where we’ll be asked the same questions about where we go from here 3 .
This sure sounds like the words of Solomon when he says that everything is vanity (see Ecclesiastes 1:2 KJV.) Some Bibles translate vanity differently. Utterly pointless. Absolute futility. Perfectly pointless. Nothing makes sense. Everything’s meaningless. Just like soap bubbles. The list goes on and on.
When we’re honest, we not only feel like this vanity, this hopelessness, we know it. We’ve experienced it day in and day out. Week in and week out.
In spite of all this and more, Jesus came and died for you and me. He didn’t come as a king, leader, billionaire, or anyone important. Instead, he came as a servant. He touched the untouchable. He fed the hungry. He served by doing the most undesirable thing possible, He washed the feet of the people who were supposed to be serving Him
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:6,7 NIV
When it came time to showing exactly who He was, instead of beating His chest, Jesus let others beat His back with a whip. They beat His head with a crown of thorns and a stick (see Mark 15:15-18.) Instead of lifting Himself up, soldiers lifted Jesus up on the cross (see Mark 15:24.)
Jesus, the single most powerful person ever to walk the Earth, humbly came to serve. Today, about 30% of the world says they are Christians. He’s the most influential individual in history, and He didn’t come shouting from the rooftops. He came in humility. And so should we.
So, humble yourselves under God’s strong hand, and in His own good time He will lift you up.1 Peter 5:6 Phillips
When it comes to how we live, what we want out of life, our God-given priority is to choose to be under His strong hand. This is where we live under His protection. Under His provision (see Psalm 91:4.) And under His humility. But now comes what we think of
as the hard part.
It is the absolute promise of God Himself that when we live humbly under Him, He “WILL” lift us up. He “WILL” bless us. But the timing and way God keeps His promises are not up to us. It’s not a matter of “IF” but “WHEN”. He “WILL” lift us up in time, and His timing is perfect (see Romans 5:6.) His job is to give, and our job is to wait (see Habakkuk 2:3.)
Yes, waiting on the Lord takes time. Yes, waiting on the Lord takes patience. Yes, waiting on the Lord requires us to give up our rights on the when and how God blesses. But there is one other piece that we really don’t like.
Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land. Psalm 37:34 CSB
There’s something more than just waiting. We’re to be keeping His way. We’re to be continually following God and living life like He wants. Not to somehow earn His blessing, but voluntarily out of love. Love for who He is. Love for making us. Love for saving us. Love for living in us. Love for taking us to be with Him.
Now comes the shocker about God blessing us. It may be something you’ve never thought about. It may seem outrageous, but Jesus Himself says that it’s true, so that’s more than good enough for me.
They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him. I tell you the truth, the master will dress himself to
serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve the Luke 12:37 NCV
Did you see what the master did for the faithful servants who were actively waiting and watching for his return? The great master humbles himself, takes off his kingly robes, and changes into the cloths of a servant. Then he invites the servants to sit so that he can serve them. And then, miracle of miracles, the master personally serves them.
I don’t know about you, but the idea that Jesus, the King of kings, Lord of lords, creator and master of the universe wants to serve us just blows me away. And how can He do this for people like you and me? It’s not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what He’s done for us.
But we do have a part to play. Why did the master serve the servants? Because they were faithfully waiting. This isn’t sitting still with their feet up in a recliner. Not on your life. They were actively watching and serving until their master returned.
This is why we humbly serve and wait – to please the one who loves us. And His blessings are beyond any boundaries we could imagine (see Ephesians 3:20.) Sure
sounds like something we should be doing. Actively serving while we wait for His return.
1 https://youtu.be/RKuqySkqhHw?si=fcX7umwR_q_3jjiQ&t=14
2 Climb Ev’ry Mountain, 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Sound of Music
3 https://youtu.be/vfC0XJV0cuU?si=4A06NNw1ablGnsFc&t=34
Books by Chet Gladkowski“
©2026 GLAD Associates, Inc. – All Rights Reserved
His latest book, ServeLife ® – How Serving Unlocks Your Purpose answers the question: what if the life you’ve been searching for was right in front of you? Not found not in chasing recognition, money, or power, but in quietly serving others. Signed copies are available at ChetGladkowski.com while ebook and audio versions are at Amazon.
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