Big Vans, Water Bottles, and Airport Burgers

Well, friends, the trip over to Seattle went well. We left Coeur d’Alene more or less on time, stopped at two different places in Spokane to pick up Max (just back from Michigan) and Amanda (at Deaconness with her Mom), and made good time through the mountains. The AC in the Cd’A Homes 12-passenger van worked really well but didn’t quite make it to the back! Once we dropped everyone off at the airport, Nicky and I ran the vans to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church – Seatac where we were met by a very helpful gentleman named Courtney. After helping us park the vans in the safest place, he drove us back to the airport in his Prius. My first time in one and I was impressed. We rejoined our group at a Starbucks next to the security station. The early group, leaving at 8pm, had already check in and checked their luggage. Those of us going later had to wait to check in so we decided to do our first devotion together right there in Starbucks. When we finished, we took the group picture you see here and the first group headed off.

We got ourselves checked in and baggaged at the appropriate time and headed through security. All was going smoothly. And then it happened. A security agent lifted up a shoulder bag, southwestern style with a “Cruzando” logo on it and asked in a voice worthy of Darth Vader, “Who does this belong to?” Jocelyn, who was just coming through the gate, said, “That’s mine.” “We’re going to have to open your bag,” he stated flatly. She replied with her cheery smile, “Okay.” I had frozen in panic. Everything had gone so smoothly. We’d gone over what to do and not to do. How could this happen? My career was over!! As the security officer opened her bag and reached inside, I examined my possible escape routes and how I could extricate Jocelyn from this sticky situation. Of course, she would have to be on the run for the rest of her life and I would probably have to resign my membership in the “Amiable Airline Ambassador” Club and…wait a minute…what was this? A half-empty Dasani water bottle??!! Hadn’t we talked about WATER BOTTLES? Irony of it was she had tossed two of them just before approaching security. She just hadn’t remembered the one in her bag.

Isn’t that the way? No matter how hard we try, we just can’t seem to get it right. Even when we “do our best,” we often come up short. Praise God for His grace. Where we come up short, His grace covers our shortcomings. When we fail to give it our all, His grace strengthens our weakness. When we are uncertain and afraid, God’s grace gives us courage. Obviously, this airport adventure was pretty innocent and the whole thing lasted about 15 seconds and we moved on. We can do that even when our situations are more significant. Even in the midst of relationship difficulties, job loss, grief and sorrow, we can “move on” or at least move forward into the future confident that God’s grace will be sufficient to our need.

So…we moved on the African Lounge for some very spendy yet tasty burgers. Boarding our 11:20pm flight happened soon after and now – 4:18am CST – we are sitting in Dallas-Ft. Worth waiting for the final leg of our flight. After several different flights…some of us went SEA-LA-DFW-NO and some SEA-DFW-NO…it’s nice to be all together for the final leg of our trip. We are eager for the week ahead though right now, a bed would be nice!

PDK