The Process of Waiting

“We cannot continue to live by the ideals of an aging generation, Papa. Decisions have to be made, and they have to be made now.” Austin said, looking at his grandfather, who seemed to be checking his phone.
There was no response from the older man.
“Well, I cannot continue to wait, sir,” Austin said as he turned and stomped to the door.
“I know you dream about calling an emergency board meeting and having me kicked out of the board. You have the power, I know, but is that the best decision to make?” His grandfather said as Austin opened the door of the office, about to leave.
Austin stood still, breathing hard. He had a mind to ignore his grandfather and call the meeting just as the older man had predicted. He turned and glared, waiting.
“I stood in those shoes you have on twenty years ago. I, too, was hot-headed and wanted to rule the world. To make great decisions that would make the family wealthier than Croesus himself, but thank God for your grandmother.” His grandfather said and turned back to his phone.
Austin knew what to expect from such story beginnings. He didn’t know how, but his Papa had been the only one to talk him out of doing wrong from childhood. When his parents tried and failed, they called in Papa, and his grandfather would tell Austin a story in the form of a lesson.
Things were different now, though.
“Papa, what is the problem with the brand. They bring good tidings, and it’s a fantastic deal. We do nothing except stand behind their product, which is good, by the way, and they give us a piece of their action. I say it’s good to go. Why wait?” Austin asked, still standing by the door, his two hands raised in question, his tone high.
“Son, sit,” Grandfather said, still looking at his phone.
Austin made his way to the chair in front of the man. He wondered what he was thinking about getting an old widower a phone. It had taken the place of his dead wife and had become a menace to the family. He planned to steal the phone and to throw it as far away as possible.
His grandfather looked up some seconds after Austin had taken a seat and smiled at him.
“You look just like me sometimes. I can’t get angry with you.” He said, and then his face turned stern. “However, watch your tone and words, young man. I am still your grandfather.”
Austin looked down. “Forgive me, Sir.”
His grandfather nodded. “Twenty years ago, I started this company with your grandmother. We were both Christians, but she was hot after Jesus, while I was hot after building our wealth. Five years into the business, we got a contract from the government to supply chemicals for the Ministry of Health. It was a huge deal, so big my hands were shaking with the document.
“There was, however, a challenge. The Health Minister had a son-in-law he wanted to give the contract to, and his assistant had sent it to us by mistake. The Minister found out a week later and raised hell, asking the assistant to retrieve the contract and exchange it for other worth peanuts.
“Your grandmother didn’t believe in such mistakes, and though I was set to fight the Minister with my connections in the government, she advised I stay my hand. I waited for a week with the Minister’s assistant breathing fire down my neck and your grandmother seeking the face of God.
“On the seventh day, I couldn’t wait any longer and picked up the phone to call my Minister friend, when a fax came through. My secretary walked into my office like she always did, delivered some papers and left. I didn’t bother to check, not expecting much.
“However, as I was greeting my friend, the Minister, whom I’d called on the phone, he asked me if I had received notice of the contract. I was shocked about how he had known about it and responded in the negative. He asked me to call him when I did. I hung up and went to ask the secretary if she had received any parcel or envelope. She said no, only the fax she had brought to my office.
“I picked the fax and checked it, and there it was, the government’s approval for the company to supply the chemicals at the initial amount stated. I called my friend, sounding dumbstruck. I didn’t understand how it had happened.
“He told me that the President had called in his executive council and had gone over all major contracts over a certain amount of money with them. Our contract had our name on it, and though the Health Minister objected to it, he was asked to provide the name of another contractor before the council. He couldn’t because he knew everyone would know of his intentions.
“That was how my friend found out about the contract and ensured it was signed and approved on time. My boy, this company was built on the strength of your grandmother’s prayers and humility before God. Not my hustle or strength, nor on any connections. Like Mordecai, God brought our matter before the President.
“I learned a lot from that experience. To build my relationship with a God bigger than anything or anyone and to wait on Him for everything. When this new deal was presented to me, I didn’t get permission from God’s Spirit to sign off on the document. I have asked God for His will to be done, and I will wait for it as I have done for almost fifteen years.
“You call this living by ideals of the old and aged. I call it living by the grace of God. I don’t pretend to know or understand why I have a stay in my spirit over this one, but I do, and all I ask is that you trust God this once.”
His grandfather went back to checking his phone, and Austin looked out the window on his left confused. He had promised the brand’s CEO that their support was a done deal. He didn’t know how to explain the situation, especially with the threat of time hanging over them.
With his eyes on the traffic outside the windows of his grandfather’s office, Austin blurted out his worries.
“We may lose a lot of clout if we don’t get this deal, Papa. A lot of people are fighting over it, and we got it on a platter. We have less than one week to sign or lose it.” He said as he turned to the older man.
His grandfather looked up, smiled at him, and nodded. “Then let it go.”
Austin stood in shock. “Is that your final answer?”
“Yes, it is, son.”
Austin nodded and strode out of his grandfather’s office, seething. He didn’t do anything after that, resigned to the fact that he had to wait for his grandfather to move on to the next world before he could make decisions for the business.
They lost the deal to the competition. Austin watched in regret as the brand was advertised all over the state. The winning company made a killing in sales. He hoped his Papa was watching to see all they had lost and never missed an opportunity to tell the older man of the brand’s progress in the business world.
It took a month for the result. A woman died from the product’s side effects, and the Health authorities confirmed her death could have been averted if thorough research had been carried out in the initial stages, before production.
The company’s assets and properties were confiscated, and the supporting company who won the contract lost more than their name and face in public.
His grandfather walked into Austin’s office with the same newspaper Austin was reading the news from, to sit and smile.
“I can’t believe this,” Austin said.
“I can. I am here to tell you something vital. The only requirement you need to run this company is a relationship with God. One in which you can talk to and hear Him with clarity. You will learn to humble yourself overtime as you suffer the consequences of your disobedience, but all that is part of the training.
“You have been introduced to the process of waiting. In it, there is the struggle to do or sort things out by yourself, which you would do well to yield to God. You have suffered the pain of losing out on your desire for the will of God to come to pass. You have endured the waiting period where you were powerless to do anything but hope in God. I hope all these experiences will guide you to God as you realize that you have no power of your own to affect any change whatsoever. I have said all I came to say.” The grandfather said and turned to walk out of the office.
He stopped at the door and turned back to Austin with narrowed eyes.
“By the way, did you see my phone?”
“No, Papa, but I’ll get you a new one today,” Austin said, as he hurried to call his dealer.