by Jeff Lucas on January 24, 2022
I stepped up to the check-in desk, a familiar place for me. I’ve traveled millions of miles in ministry and spent a lot of time in check in lines. I’m not crazy about airports, perhaps because I’m aware that people are only there because they want to be somewhere else!
The check-in agent peered at me through his reading glasses. His tired expression suggested that he’d seen too many human beings that day - there was no greeting or smile.
‘Where are you going today?, he said, a perfectly reasonable question.
And that’s when it happened. My brain froze, my mind went blank, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember where I was going. I looked at my wife, Kay in desperation, and she smiled that gracious smile of quiet resignation - an expression that I've seen many times over…
‘We’re going to London’, she replied.
Of course we were. London! The place where I was raised, the place where I got my first job (in banking - I was useless at it). How could I forget?
‘That’s right, London’, I mumbled. The weary check in agent couldn’t resist it. He shook his head, apparently staggered by the rank stupidity of a chap who goes to an airport and then forgets why he’s there and where he’s going.
But that was not the end of my sorrows. I took my printed boarding pass (this was before mobile passes were available on cell phone apps…because it was ‘back in the day’ when a phone was, well, a phone), and we headed for security.
The security check is my least favorite place in the airport. It’s hard to feel relaxed when you’re being scrutinized by a stern-faced TSA agent who is wondering if you might have a tactical nuclear warhead in your carry-on bag.
For some reason, I put my boarding pass in the tray together with my laptop bag, and when it went through the X Ray machine, the boarding pass got chewed up. Now I was bewildered beyond my usual state of bewilderment. What should I do, go back to check in again, and meet that agent who was already convinced that I was in need of serious help?
A boarding pass clarifies where we are going. It tells us which terminal we should be in, the gate we are departing from, and the time of boarding. It gives us the details needed for our journey.
As a Timberline Church family, we sense that God is calling us to be a people of hope and encouragement in 2022. We’d like to give some further insights to everyone about our objectives for this next 12 months. That’s why we’d love you to check out our ‘boarding pass’ and see what we feel the Lord has put on our hearts for this season. We share this, not just as information, but as an invitation - lets’ travel together, prayerfully, serving, giving, participating, as we seek, under God’s direction, to grow and go together. Check it out - and check in now!
Let love live,
Pastor Jeff
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