A Cambridge God Adventure 12) God said 'Not Yet'

There was no doubting the passion among some of us present - we could see the Coffee Shop in action. To ensure good preparation the leaders had set up a small group to review practical and financial issues.  And as the meeting developed a number of other ideas emerged. Some suggested extending the small church kitchen with a redesign of the lower halls to provide convenient places to serve coffee, food and share friendship.  What other changes could be useful to mission? If the shop was right could it perhaps operate part-time?  Oh, so many possibilities.

An outcome was eventually agreed.  Guess what? That a committee be convened to assess the feasibility of the many ideas that had arisen.  Its convenor, David, promised that a full report would be brought to the October Church Meeting.  He wrote to us all:
If you have an idea or comment, however sweeping or trivial it may seem, please make sure that I know about it so that we can consider everything before we start spending money.  Often I find myself saying, 'What a pity that no one suggested that earlier...now it's too late'.  Please make sure that doesn't happen to your idea this time.

This should have been a crushing conclusion after all the prayer and excitement.  Delay by appointing a committee.  Oh, no! Committees have been described as narrow country lanes into which good ideas are lured and strangled to death.  How could such a bold project have been sabotaged in such a predictable way?  Yet, just when you would expect annoyance and even anger something curious happened to us all.  To my immense surprise there was no sense of frustration or disappointment.  I didn't feel any at all.  True, I had felt certain that I could picture God's next step but it was as though he was breathing his peace and purpose into a certain 'Not Yet' to us all.  The urgency at the beginning of the meeting had been displaced by a deeper need to think and pray some more.