Prep Time 15 Minutes. Total Time 45 Minutes!

At least once a week, I receive an email with a recipe for a wonderful dish that requires minimal preparation and cook time.  Usually, I peruse the recipe, decide that I don’t have the ingredients or the gumption to make the dish, and then delete the e-mail.  As a matter of fact, I have never prepared any of these recipes but I have retained several, just waiting for the day I “get around to it!”  If the pile of books I’m going to read when I get around to them is any indication of how long it will take me to prepare one of these dishes, I’ll be cooking well into the next century!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make a pot of chili.  The instructions on the mix assured me the entire process from start to finish would take 45 minutes.  In fact, printed on the package in bold print was the following disclaimer: 15 minutes preparation time; 45 minutes total.  I guess whoever put those instructions together is no better than I am at mathematics.  By the time I went to the store and purchased all the ingredients, returned home and put the groceries away, got out the pots and pans, browned the meat, added the chili mix, added all the remaining ingredients, and cooked the chili, well over three hours had transpired.  You want to talk about false advertisement?

What I learned form this little experience is that preparation time always takes longer than one expects.  No worthwhile project will be successful unless serious effort and considerable time are spent up-front in preparation.  I’ve seen this throughout my life. We had fresh vegetables all winter because my dad planted and worked a garden and because my mom spent untold hours canning the vegetables in preparation for the months ahead. Musicians are able to give outstanding performances because they’ve put in uncountable hours of practice in preparation for their concerts.  The list goes on and on but the principle is the same, preparation time is crucial and requires more effort than the actual event for which preparation is made!

One verse, found in Genesis 7:6, speaks directly to this point, “Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.” Yes, you read correctly!  Noah was six hundred—that’s 600—years old when water covered the earth.  God called him to build the ark when he was 500, so that makes 100 years of preparation time!  Just imagine Noah, in the desert, felling trees, dragging them to the construction site, sawing planks, and banging on this monstrous boat for 100 years and all the while never having seen rain!  For 100 long years, Noah worked on a single project.  Day in and day out he worked on the ark until it was completed.

Finally, Noah entered the ark with his family.  This included his wife as well as his sons (who weren’t born when God called him to build the ark) and their wives. The Scriptures tell us that Noah was in the ark for a total of 1 year and 10 days.  If you do the math, that means he spent 100 years preparing for 1 year of service.  God called Noah to build the ark for the express purpose of caring for the animals during the time water covered the earth. 

Wow!  I thought the instructions on my chili package were a little out of sync!  Noah spent 100 years preparing the ark but God spent 500 years prior to that preparing Noah!  What is God preparing you for today?  Does it seem that you are spending so much time and effort in the preparation stage?  Are you anxious, eager to begin the task God has assigned you?  Just remember, preparation time always takes longer than you expect but without it, you are doomed to failure.

Take courage from Noah!  God’s economy always produces the best results and his timing is always perfect.  Who knows but that God is spending years preparing you so that you can spend 15 minutes sharing the gospel to bring one person to Christ.  Or, he may assign you to a difficult task so that you can encourage and strengthen someone who needs to see God’s love in action.  Are you willing to let God spend time preparing you for his service today?