Why Patience Pays Off

CORE PRACTICE #7: Wait on God’s timing; don’t try to make things happen yourself.

Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.

—Psalm 27:14

TONY

I know the phrase “Patience is a virtue” well. I’ve probably heard it hundreds of times since I was young. Yet if I were judged on that quality alone, I would probably fall woefully short.

Patience is easy to recommend to other people, but not easy to apply to ourselves. When I was young I didn’t exhibit a lot of patience, even though I saw my dad live it out consistently. I often wondered why he didn’t always take a stand or forge ahead when I thought he should. He simply stayed the course and relied patiently on God’s timing for the right moment to correct something or for the right opportunity to make a difference.

If it had been up to me, I would have been a National Football League head coach long before Rich McKay and the Glazer family offered me that opportunity with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I had played in the NFL and had served as an assistant coach in the NFL under the tutelage of some great head coaches—Chuck Noll, Marty Schottenheimer, and Dennis Green. I was an assistant coach for fifteen years, and during the last ten, my name was repeatedly mentioned for potential head coaching positions.

Few people saw the inner turmoil I felt while waiting for that right opening. In fact, someone looking at me from the outside might have mistakenly said that patience clearly was one of my virtues. I knew better—patience is a state of the heart, and for many of those years my heart revolved around my plan, not God’s plan for me. I couldn’t have claimed to be patient in those years.

I was almost ready to give up in 1993. I was the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, in my thirteenth year as an assistant coach, and our team had the top defense in the NFL. There were seven head coaching job vacancies that year, and yet nothing happened for me.

No interest from anyone. Not even an interview! I remember telling Lauren that since it hadn’t happened that year, it probably would never happen. Lauren encouraged me to be patient because God was in control. Even better, when I felt overlooked, she kept telling me that she loved me and believed in me.

My friend Tom Lamphere, the Vikings’ chaplain, also gave me some terrific advice. He told me to turn my situation over to the Lord; to trust God with where He had me and with His plan for my life. In the meantime, he said, my responsibility was to be the very best I could be wherever God had me.

The next year brought the same disappointment—I learned of several head coaching openings, but none for which I was being considered. Whatever patience I had was running out.

And then God opened a door with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As it turned out, it was the perfect spot for me and my family at just the right time. Looking back over my NFL coaching career, I always smile as I consider God’s timing. The experience I gained in so many settings as an assistant made me a better head coach. During those years as an assistant, I ended up meeting and working with many different men who would later become part of my staff. And the time I spent learning and growing—sometimes with godly patience and sometimes with forced acceptance—served me well in my thirteen years as a head coach.

Even though I retired from coaching in 2009, people still kindly say that I am young enough to coach again someday. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of timing—and humor!

Adventure Application: What are you and your spouse waiting for—a new job, a baby, a home, the return of a wayward teen? In what ways are you trusting God while you wait? How might you encourage your spouse to hang in there when God doesn’t seem to be moving?