It has been a long two weeks for me. My daughter, and her family went to Dublin, Ireland with my wife on vacation. After over 45 years of international travel, I don’t handle those trips like I used to, so I stayed home. As it turned out, I still experienced the stress of the trip when their flight from Heathrow airport to Dublin was cancelled and they had to get to London City Airport to make their rebooked flight. They had to spend $300 on a taxi to cross that huge city.
Already worn out from the flight from Texas and the stress of the canceled flight, they finally made it to Dublin, only to discover their luggage was still in London. My wife called and told me to find their luggage since I had the computer/phone and nothing else to do. I spent hours on the phone calling Priceline, then American Airlines, and British Airlines only to be told they couldn’t talk to me about my family’s lost luggage. I relayed the info to my family who had already contacted the airlines, bought basic supplies, a change of clothes and were fine.
Being home alone for ten days gave me time to get some rest. It turned out to be too much time and too much rest. My doctor had changed my prescription medicine and that along with the quiet house caused me to sleep way too much. When the day came for me to pick my wife up at the airport, I tried to sleep enough so I could drive safely to and from the airport. Their flight was scheduled to arrive late, but I drove to the airport while it was still daylight and killed time waiting for their arrival. Thankfully, they arrived safely! We later heard an airline ground crew member had died in an accident just before their arrival.
By the time we left the airport I felt sleepy because it was almost 11 PM and way past my bedtime. The drive home seemed to be going fine until I missed my highway exit and was in a daze as to how that happened, when my wife yelled “What are you doing?” I was heading straight for the next exit which was closed and had been blocked off. Thank GOD I swerved just in time to avoid hitting anything and nobody was in the next lane. Susan said, “I traveled safely to Ireland and back and almost got in an accident on the way home from the airport!” I assure you I was wide awake after that close call and more than a little embarrassed.
That whole series of events is repeating itself with many variations every day. People struggle to relax and end up stressed and worn out, while others avoid the struggle, miss out and still get stressed. Though we look for solutions and take precautions, everything has unintended side effects. As we focus on our own desires, souls are slipping into eternity.
What’s the answer? “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk…not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 14-17 KJV). How can that help? The answer is JESUS! Though my family was briefly stressed on vacation, and I was stressed staying behind, we were fine. I looked to medicine to solve my problem, but JESUS could have helped me without (bad) side effects. JESUS brought my family back safely and kept us from an accident because of prayer, but if I had been more sensitive to the SPIRIT during our waiting, the ground crew member may have made it home too!
Wayne Lance (2023) – That’s Good News to Share!