Great Disappointment Comes with Great Expectations?
Before going to this year’s GYC in Phoenix Arizona, my sisters and I decided to make the best of our time outside the chilly state of Alaska. We planned on a 10-day winter vacation that included our 5 days at GYC. A month before GYC started, one of my younger sisters suggested that it would be nice to end GYC and start the brand new year with an early morning hot air balloon ride. When she was telling me about it, I really wasn’t convinced that all 4 of us would be enjoy a 2 hour hot air balloon ride. Especially for a guy that isn’t very fond of heights, I wasn’t sure if I was willing or ready to sign my life away. For that entire month before our trip was to begin, she kept asking us if we wanted to go. In the end, her constant pressure and persistence won and we decided to go hot air ballooning the morning after GYC ended.
After GYC ended with a bang and all of us felt our spiritual lives revived, we checked into a hotel closer to the launch site for our hot air balloon experience (none of us are really morning people, especially on vacation…). That whole evening before the flight, we talked about how “amazing” it was going to be to see the sun coming up over the horizon while we float some 3,000 feet up in the air. But for some reason, I still wasn’t feeling it. I really wasn’t expecting much and neither did my other two sisters. The only thing I could think about was whether or not I needed to say my goodbyes and write letters to love ones.
Early the next morning at about 5 AM, we got up and started to prepare for our adventure. At this point, it felt so unreal that we were actually going to ride a hot air balloon. I wasn’t sure if I was excited or really nervous but I think it was leaning more towards the latter. We met our pilot at Dunkin Donuts at about 7 AM and were given forms to read and sign (basically life waiver forms just in case the balloon decided to not cooperate). We all hopped into the van that would take us to the launch site another 30 minutes away. As we asked questions about our flight, it was definitely comforting to know that he was in the hot air ballooning industry for more than 20 years. He was telling us about all his amazing adventures and the joy he found in flying 3,000 feet up in the air. But oddly, I still wasn’t feeling it and I still wasn’t sure what to expect.
We finally arrived at our launch site and as we watched our pilot prepare the hot air balloon, I started to relax. Not only was I starting to relax, my curiosity was sparked and I was looking forward to the flight (Weird I know). As our hot air balloon came to life and we all boarded, we slowly started to ascend into the crisp Arizona sky. As the hot air balloon and sun arose almost simultaneously, I was mesmerized by how beautiful and calm it was at 3,000 feet in the sky. As I gazed over the horizon, I couldn’t help but think of all the regret I would have made if I didn’t get on the hot air balloon. One of my sisters were spitting over the edge while watching her spit drift down to the ground. At that point, I remembered we were 3,000 feet in the air. As our 2 hour flight quickly came to a close, we headed back to the hotel to reflect on our morning. As we shared amongst ourselves on how amazed we were, my sister who had recommended the hot air balloon ride, didn’t have that face of satisfaction. She said she had really high expectations but was really disappointed in the end. It just didn’t go the way she expected it to go.
During GYC, I listened to a seminar that taught about how we are a disappointed generation. Doesn’t it make you wonder why we get disappointed with God when things don’t go the way we expect or want? Why is it that we are disappointed in God only when it doesn’t go our way? The only reason why we are disappointed is because we set these expectations that are based on what we want and what we think we need. Just like how my sister had this great expectation of the hot air balloon ride, in the end she was disappointed and didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of us did. In our church today, we run into that same kind of situation all the time. “We’ve waited so long for a youth pastor, why doesn’t God provide?” or “Our youth group is so lame, why can’t we do anything fun?” I remember when our youth group in Alaska didn’t have anything. There was no praise team, no youth pastor and barely any youth (only my family). I always had this grudge in my heart towards God. I always complained and was always disappointed when God didn’t provide based on the expectations I set. But then I realized that rather than sulking and complaining, I should take action. I decided that I needed to set my expectations to how God wanted it to be and to be more of a do-er than a complainer.
Another thought I had was that as a young generation, we tend to complain more than we appreciate. Rather than looking around and seeing all the blessings God has already provided for us, we tend to be blinded by the fact that we are always expecting more. We live in a world of instant gratification, the more the better, the best of the best but we fail to appreciate the things God has already blessed us with. What’s worse is that when we don’t get the things we expect and want, we have a temper tantrum and only ask for more. When my sister was disappointed during the hot air balloon ride, she wasn’t enjoying the moment as much as we were. She was so focused on her expectations and waiting for “more” that ultimately in the end, she didn’t enjoy it as much as we did.
Instead of having these great expectations based on what we might want, maybe it’s time to start having expectations based on what God has already planned for us. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” James 1:22. Rather than being disappointed, I want to encourage everyone to take action. To take the calling of changing this disappointed generation into a generation of young Adventist willing to accept the answers of God and to become do-ers of His will.
Timothy Yun is currently the Youth Director at the Anchorage Korean Seventh-day Adventist Church in Alaska. After completing a year-long mission trip in Tennessee, He has felt God’s calling back home in Alaska.