Yesterday I was in the airport for my 9:15am departure flight to West Palm Beach. About half an hour before boarding time, I heard my name announced over the loud speaker to approach the departure gate. In 23 years of flying, this had never happened to me before, so I didn’t really know what this could be about.s So, understanding that in the natural sense, moving from certainty to uncertainty creates is fear, I remembered Romans 1:17 which basically tells us that to be in right standing with God we have to move from faith to faith and to live by faith. If we look at faith quickly, we will see that at its simplest, it basically means spiritual certainty even when walking in natural uncertainty. So, when Romans 1:17 says to move from faith to faith, and to live by faith, because I understand the basic principle of faith, I see that verse to mean to move from spiritual certainty to spiritual certainty and in doing this, I now live by spiritual certainty. Fear is born when moving from natural certainty to natural uncertainty, but if we are living by faith (spiritual certainty to spiritual certainty) we are living (or governed) from a spiritual perspective, thus natural ailments like fear and doubt cannot penetrate us unless we let it.
So, when I got to the counter the ticket agent proceeded to ask me if I would be willing to give up my seat to West Palm Beach and be re-routed to Ft. Lauderdale and then be taxied to West Palm Beach. And, if I was willing to do so I would receive a $250 travel voucher on the airline. Strange enough, I happen to be reading a book on transitioning and just got through reading the section on the benefits of waiting; although I hated being delayed in airports, and even more so the idea of being rerouted and ground transported, I gave up my seat anyhow. So the agent gave me a new ticket, a taxi ride voucher and a travel voucher for $350, when he had originally said $250. So I returned to my seat for a little while and I thought to myself, “It sure would be nice if I could just get on another flight to West Palm Beach.” After all, when the agent asked where I wanted my luggage sent, I had it sent to West Palm Beach instead of Ft. Lauderdale. Sure enough, when I walked to the gate for departure to Ft. Lauderdale, the agent looked at me and said, “How would you like to get on a flight to West Palm Beach that leaves in a few minutes instead? There seems to be one vacancy on the flight.” I laughed and accepted.
There was my lesson on waiting, live and in living color. For an extra 45 minutes of waiting in the airport and reading my book, I got a $350 travel voucher to wherever the airline traveled. The chapter in the book I was reading was focused on ‘Preparation’, and through having a little bit of patience, I just made preparation for future travel. We make the best preparations when we are not in a rush.
