What an Airport Taught Me

They changed my flight. Yuck. I have to wait three more hours in an aiport. Blech. The place smells like old mushrooms. Yum.

As I walked through the security checkpoint, I saw a tearful, sniffling blonde. I turned around and followed her line of sight to see a young boy with long hair who looked slightly less impacted by his girlfriend's departure than she was. But perhaps I'm just crazy. Or right. One of those.

Near those two lovebirds, I heard a lady emphatically proclaim her joyful thanks to a security guard who had helped her.

Having grown up being in and out of airports, I've had some time to analyze this cultural anomaly, and I'm always blown away by the fact that airports are simultaneously one of the happiest and one of the saddest places in existence. No other place can you find a mother tearfully saying goodbye to her children standing next to a man excitedly anticipating his reunion with his dearly missed girl.

No where else do you see a grandpa joyfully wrapping his rarely seen grandchildren in bear hugs while a fearful soldier looks on as he contemplates his future with his heart in his stomach.

It's a strange place with the most polar of opposites coexisting in the closest of proximities. But everyone there is on a journey.

And so are you.

Though, in the journey I'm talking about, there's really only two flights available. One to eternal joy and the other to eternal torment. And if you booked your flight correctly, your final destination ends at a hub where all tears will subside and all tearful goodbyes turn into your last hello.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”" (Revelations 21)

So as I sit in this airport typing away on my little phone, my encouragement today is simple.

That day IS coming.

Hang on. Christ is coming back for His Bride. Your struggles? Gone. Your heartache? A distant memory. Your fate? Secure and perfectly, unimaginably, and infinitely rewarding.

Just hang on.

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