Holy Hump Day

“What day is it?” It’s hump day. [enter camel stage right]

Just what is hump day? It is the day on which we breathe a little easier knowing that Friday and the weekend is just a few days away. Hump day is a hope filled shout that we are almost there.  At the same time, we realize that right now there is work yet to be done. While we still have to wait for the weekend, and to say “thank God it’s Friday,” we put our heads down to the task at hand.

Is there a hump day in Holy Week? Of course, there is. In Holy Week, this Wednesday is for both doing and waiting. As Lent moves to the Sacred three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter, with its great vigil, we still journey toward it on Holy hump day.  Spiritually, we are almost there…we are almost home.

My thoughts take me to a time when I was in college and in the seminary. It was my junior year.  There was a lot going on at the time.  I was earnestly praying for clarity and direction.  I was crying out to God. I was petitioning and asking God to just show me the way…give me a sign…give me something…throw me a bone!   That is all I asked and I would follow.

One night I went to the chapel to pray and to be honest, was not in any mood to be there.  I tried to quiet myself in God’s presence…nothing.  I then reached for my Bible.  It fell out of my hands and hit the floor.  (I couldn’t even do that right!)  As I reached down to retrieve it, the sacred scriptures were open to the Book of the Psalms.  Specifically, Psalm 40 caught my eye.  As I read it, I felt like it had been written just for me.

I waited, I waited for the Lord;
   who stooped to me and heard my cry.
 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
   out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.

The 18-verse psalm ends with this encouragement:

But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who long for your saving help always say,
    “The Lord is great!”

But as for me, I am poor and needy;
    may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    you are my God, do not delay.

The answer to my prayer was not necessarily the one I was seeking, but the one I needed.  I needed to trust. TRUST.  Trust in the love of God…  Trust that he knows me.   Trust that he hears me. Trust that he has and will again, STOOP TO HEAR MY CRY. 

So, we wait. So, we put our head down and plow forward with trust in Him.

What day is it?  It’s HOLY HUMP DAY!!!!