Musings in an Airport

This is a blurb I wrote in June on my way to Seattle...just never posted it anywhere...


Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
James 4:13, 14

Last night I read myself to sleep, something I used to do much more often than I do now. It was nice. As I read, I thought of my wife and son enjoying time with family in Washington, anticipating joining them early this very morning. After finally getting to sleep, I found myself waking intermittently through the night, paranoid of missing my alarm and, thus, missing my flight. Neither happened, and I boarded my flight from Boise to Seattle at approximately 7:10 am. The flight was pleasant, though quite full, but people were in good spirits, and there really is nothing better than viewing Mt. Rainier from the air in the light of the early morning sun.

Just about the time I decided the flight seemed to be taking longer than it should, the captain announced over the P.A. system we would not be able to land in Seattle due to persistent fog, and would be re-routing to Spokane where they would do their best to service us to Seattle. So now, after about an hour’s wait in an extremely lethargic, though somewhat tense, ticket line, I sit at gate C30 waiting for my departure at 1:52, scheduled to land in Seattle at 2:58. My only grievance is the fact that my mother, wife and 3-month-old son had to leave the house this morning at 6:00 to pick me up at 8. I, however, was not there to meet them, nor was I able to inform them of the delay until after my scheduled landing time.

Many would choose irritation. Some may have reason to, at least from an existential standpoint. But my head echoes with the words of James, written to the Diaspora only a few years after Christ’s return to His Father. James’ letter opens boldly by saying, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

I have the distinct notion there are a few (though not many) people sharing in this predicament that would look James in the face and say, How about you consider it joy and I’ll consider it a terrible nuisance that has thrown a tractor mechanic’s monkey wrench into my perfectly elaborate and fool-proof (not to mention absolutely of the utmost importance) plan! And I am sure that some of those people had other people depending on them for a business transaction or something of the sort…their irritation is understandable. But why don’t we take a quick look at the context of James’ insensitive and altogether uneducated statement?

As I mentioned earlier, this statement, or rather, this entire letter, is written to the Diaspora…the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad… Apparently they were facing “various trials”. Well, some would say, they weren’t facing my trials! They didn’t have the deadlines I have. They weren’t late for a crucial business meeting. They’re career didn’t hinge on this particular flight! They didn’t even have deadlines, let alone planes to make them late! Okay, maybe they weren’t facing the same trials. But what were they facing?

The Roman Emperor in the time of James was a man by the name of Nero. One of his favorite hobbies was the persecution of the early Christians. Some had their skin peeled off and salt poured on their raw flesh. Others were tarred and put up on stakes, then lit on fire to light Nero’s garden parties. Many were thrown to the lions in the Coliseum in Rome. Christians lived in mortal fear of their lives each and every day. And yet James said to them, Consider it all joy… The deadlines they faced were of permanent physical consequence. I don’t think they cared about delays in their daily lives. Each day to them was a precious gift, each morning a new opportunity to serve Christ! Oh to live with such perspective!

At a time such as this, where I could choose to be angry over circumstances which I really cannot control, I am challenged by the words of James to stop and take a closer look at those very circumstances. Though not when I had planned, in just a few short hours I will be with my wife and son in Seattle visiting my family. To be sure, were my schedule a bit more pressing, I may need to try a little harder to maintain a positive attitude, but all the same, why fret about something beyond my reach? Additionally, what is to say that this inconvenient rerouting didn’t save us from a much greater catastrophe? And so, with time on my hands and nothing “better” to do, I contemplate what perhaps the Lord may want to teach me…and I praise Him for the time He has given me to do just that.