Waiting Time

In I Was Wrong, televangelist Jim Bakker describes the terrible depression he went through while in prison in the 1990s for fraud and conspiracy. During one of his lowest moments, he received an encouraging letter from a pastor friend, Bob Gass. Bob believed God was not through with Jim. It was his conviction that prison was part of God’s vision for Jim’s life. Later, Jim came to share that conviction. In the book he documents the remarkable changes that took place in his life as a result of those dark days in prison.

Part of Jim’s depression stemmed from the fact that he had a forty-five-year sentence, and he was unable to minister inside the prison. From his vantage point he was facing forty-five pointless, fruitless, wasted years of life. You can certainly understand why he was depressed. In his letter, Bob Gass made a statement that must have sounded like “preacher talk” to Jim at the time, but which later proved to be true. He wrote, “Waiting time will not be wasted time.”