The evening was tailored made for disaster, at least when it came to my emotions. Even before I got to Terminal 4 at Heathrow I knew I was in trouble. I was leaving home for a two week trip that I really did not want to make. The weather had been terrible all day, extremely high winds, which in turn had triggered thoughts of what could go wrong. And when I walked into the terminal I knew something must be wrong and I was not fully involved.
Everywhere I looked there were people. Not just a few people crowding in to catch the last flights of the evening, we are talking serious overcrowding. Queues were curling around on top of each other and there was no room for anyone to maneuver much less easily walk! Where one would normally find a few hundred people, maybe a thousand on an extremely busy day, there were easily in excess of five thousand. Everyone was tired, upset, and frustrated. Their fear of where he and she were going spend the night, or what could be done about the missed appointment was driving their behavior.
As I headed to get my ticket rebooked, another story that is hardly worth telling except that I still had not been able to shake the feeling that someone was out to get me, I knew that fear was beginning to take over. Three plus hours later as I rested on British Airway’s plane taxing out to the runway I wondered what had made the difference.
I already knew what it was and Wisdom’s words reinforced what was on my mind. “Become wise, dear child, and make me happy; then nothing the world throws my way will upset me.” (Proverbs 27.11)
An essay written earlier in the day by Carli was still causing me to pause, reflect, and think about what drives my decisions. The student had, at least for the moment, become the teacher. People in Terminal 4 were driven by fear and frustration. God offers us something better but the choice is ours.
