Flying the Selfish Skies
I’m not a big fan of business travel. And I am less a fan after my recent travels.
After attending meetings in a city far from my home (let’s call it “Tulsa,” because I believe that’s what the residents call it), I was eager to depart that city’s fine airport for a series of flights home for which I paid a certain airline (you know who you are) what I assumed to be a sum of legal tender sufficient to secure my safe and timely passage.
But when I arrived the required 60 minutes before my flight at the gate at the Tulsa International Airport (is it just me, or is every airport these days an “International” airport?), there was no plane to ferry me home. The high-tech LCD sign behind the gate agent said the flight encountered weather delays and would be 30 minutes late. That was understandable, because we’ve had lots of odd and intense weather in the central part of the country in the last, well, 180 days. So I was nonplussed by such a brief setback.
Unfortunately, the brief delay kept getting less and less brief. The plane into Tulsa didn’t arrive for almost another two and a half hours. This caused me some consternation, because my limited understanding of physics gave me inkling that I could not be both in Tulsa at 6:28 p.m. and in the next city at the same time to catch my connecting flight.
But this isn’t a story about weather and airplanes and space-time continuums. This is a story about selfish, carnal people. Including me.
Because when the plane finally did arrive, and the tired passengers disembarked, I began to piece together why the plane was really late. And when I got on the plane for its return trip, I gathered a few more details from our flight attendant who had also been on the incoming flight.
Apparently, as the plane was preparing to depart for Tulsa to pick me up, a passenger on the plane made a decision. She calculated the same space-time metrics I did and decided that it was silly to be on the plane, because weather delays had already prevented her from getting to her destination on time. And rather than see the trip through to its conclusion and pray that God would work it all out, she took matters into her own hands. After the plane received its assignment in the queue, was de-iced, and headed to take off, she asked (or demanded, depending who was telling me the story) for the opportunity to disembark the aircraft, have her luggage removed and, as far as I know, have someone carry her to her car and give her a backrub and a lovely parting gift.
When I heard this story, my only thought was, “what kind of person would not only inconvenience one plane full of passengers, but two?!” The kind of person who would do that, I thought, must be very selfish, indeed.
But as I said, there is enough selfish, carnal behavior in this story to go around. Because once I heard why MY plane was going to be late, I flashed anger. How dare that woman prevent me from catching my connecting flight, so I could make it home, to be with my precious family! I could just picture my precious children, with noses pressed to the frosty window, tears welling up in their eyes, pleading with their mother, “Mother, dear, when will father be home? Pray tell us, he’s not been inconvenienced by a selfish woman on the preceding flight, has he?”
(Never mind that those precious children had school and church activities and plenty of homework and probably just thought dad was in the basement or something. Don’t disrupt my vision.)
My imagination was on overdrive. There was no way I could catch my connecting flight. The airline would have to put me up in a hotel. I’d never see my checked luggage again. My wife would die from worry and my children would become circus people. I’d probably catch cold because of the stress. (I think I feel a sniffle coming on now.)
But a funny thing happened on the way to my travel nightmare.
When the plane arrived at my next destination, I learned that the flight I was late to meet also got delayed. I was able to catch it. And I made it home. And I arrived there within 60 minutes of when my ticket said I was scheduled to be home in the first place. And when I walked in the door, my precious children looked up from their homework and said, “Why are you bringing a suitcase up from the basement?”
In the fourth chapter of his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul cautions against the very behavior I exhibited. He calls us who follow Jesus Christ to a higher standard.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen… Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29, 31-32, NIV)
Upon reflection, I had to wonder if my emotional reaction was even worse than the woman who delayed two planeloads of people. Because while I don’t know about that woman’s spiritual state, I know I should have higher spiritual expectations. I know better. But when I don’t live up to that standard, God, in His grace, gently points it out to me, reminds me of His call on me, and allows me to get up the next day and try it again.
He does that even when my imagination gets the best of me.
I mean, really, what are the chances of missing a connecting flight? Or the airline losing your checked luggage?
When have you ever over-reacted to the stresses at work? How did the assurance of God’s grace get you back on track?
After attending meetings in a city far from my home (let’s call it “Tulsa,” because I believe that’s what the residents call it), I was eager to depart that city’s fine airport for a series of flights home for which I paid a certain airline (you know who you are) what I assumed to be a sum of legal tender sufficient to secure my safe and timely passage.
But when I arrived the required 60 minutes before my flight at the gate at the Tulsa International Airport (is it just me, or is every airport these days an “International” airport?), there was no plane to ferry me home. The high-tech LCD sign behind the gate agent said the flight encountered weather delays and would be 30 minutes late. That was understandable, because we’ve had lots of odd and intense weather in the central part of the country in the last, well, 180 days. So I was nonplussed by such a brief setback.
Unfortunately, the brief delay kept getting less and less brief. The plane into Tulsa didn’t arrive for almost another two and a half hours. This caused me some consternation, because my limited understanding of physics gave me inkling that I could not be both in Tulsa at 6:28 p.m. and in the next city at the same time to catch my connecting flight.
But this isn’t a story about weather and airplanes and space-time continuums. This is a story about selfish, carnal people. Including me.
Because when the plane finally did arrive, and the tired passengers disembarked, I began to piece together why the plane was really late. And when I got on the plane for its return trip, I gathered a few more details from our flight attendant who had also been on the incoming flight.
Apparently, as the plane was preparing to depart for Tulsa to pick me up, a passenger on the plane made a decision. She calculated the same space-time metrics I did and decided that it was silly to be on the plane, because weather delays had already prevented her from getting to her destination on time. And rather than see the trip through to its conclusion and pray that God would work it all out, she took matters into her own hands. After the plane received its assignment in the queue, was de-iced, and headed to take off, she asked (or demanded, depending who was telling me the story) for the opportunity to disembark the aircraft, have her luggage removed and, as far as I know, have someone carry her to her car and give her a backrub and a lovely parting gift.
When I heard this story, my only thought was, “what kind of person would not only inconvenience one plane full of passengers, but two?!” The kind of person who would do that, I thought, must be very selfish, indeed.
But as I said, there is enough selfish, carnal behavior in this story to go around. Because once I heard why MY plane was going to be late, I flashed anger. How dare that woman prevent me from catching my connecting flight, so I could make it home, to be with my precious family! I could just picture my precious children, with noses pressed to the frosty window, tears welling up in their eyes, pleading with their mother, “Mother, dear, when will father be home? Pray tell us, he’s not been inconvenienced by a selfish woman on the preceding flight, has he?”
(Never mind that those precious children had school and church activities and plenty of homework and probably just thought dad was in the basement or something. Don’t disrupt my vision.)
My imagination was on overdrive. There was no way I could catch my connecting flight. The airline would have to put me up in a hotel. I’d never see my checked luggage again. My wife would die from worry and my children would become circus people. I’d probably catch cold because of the stress. (I think I feel a sniffle coming on now.)
But a funny thing happened on the way to my travel nightmare.
When the plane arrived at my next destination, I learned that the flight I was late to meet also got delayed. I was able to catch it. And I made it home. And I arrived there within 60 minutes of when my ticket said I was scheduled to be home in the first place. And when I walked in the door, my precious children looked up from their homework and said, “Why are you bringing a suitcase up from the basement?”
In the fourth chapter of his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul cautions against the very behavior I exhibited. He calls us who follow Jesus Christ to a higher standard.
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen… Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29, 31-32, NIV)
Upon reflection, I had to wonder if my emotional reaction was even worse than the woman who delayed two planeloads of people. Because while I don’t know about that woman’s spiritual state, I know I should have higher spiritual expectations. I know better. But when I don’t live up to that standard, God, in His grace, gently points it out to me, reminds me of His call on me, and allows me to get up the next day and try it again.
He does that even when my imagination gets the best of me.
I mean, really, what are the chances of missing a connecting flight? Or the airline losing your checked luggage?
When have you ever over-reacted to the stresses at work? How did the assurance of God’s grace get you back on track?
posted by Tom Petersen at 1:45 PM
4 Comments:
Tom, very funny piece. I would have reacted much the same way. I recall hearing the Joel Osteen's wife was removed from a plane, apparently for bad behavior. I wondered if it even occurred to the Osteens that there were other people on the plane.
Or maybe there was an emergency, a good reason that none of us know.
Tom
Its funny that you bring up this topic. We are quick to point out the selfishness of others, but somehow justify it in our own lives.
At work I love creative, high quality work. That means that I am often demanding and abrasive and headstrong -- three things I really dislike in others.
Something about your post causes me to pause.....Thank you
David Rupert
www.redletterbelievers.blogspot.com
Holy Cow, Tom. You return to the blogosphere with a tour de farce!
Who are you people and what are you doing reading my stuff?!
Thanks, Gordon, for finding any humor in this post. We all have heard of or experienced our own travel nightmares, haven't we? Fortunately, my experience was better than a colleague's on this same trip. She had to spend another night away from home because her pilot apparently arrived at the gate in no shape to fly. That's a whole 'nother blog entry.
Thanks for your comments, David. You guys do such great stuff at Red Letter Believers. Thanks for checking in here.
Thanks, Mark, for welcoming me back. I meant to link to your recent ode on travel, but mine would be more, well, crass than your sophisticated approach! Thanks for giving me some class!
Happy Travels, All! Tom
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