The Date:October 22, 2009; 10:00
a.m., Central Standard Time
The Place:Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport;
Terminal A
The Human Form:Male; appx. 80 years old; 5'4"; 150
lbs; wearing a red volunteer vest
Dear
Girlfriends,
Not all
angel sightings are positive experiences. Sometimes angels are sent to "expose
us" for who and what we are; in my case: a spoiled brat.
Steve and I
had arrived at the airport, excited for our long weekend in LA. Approaching the
self-serve kiosk, I whipped out my American Advantage Platinum Card to check in for the flight. As our first class boarding passes were
printing, a little bitty angel-man, sporting a red vest, appeared out of
nowhere and leaned into me, while pointing at my roller bag, to say: "You can't
carry that bag on the airplane."
"Sir," I
said in my most patronizing voice (the stupid one I find myself using with
small children and old folks) - "I travel several times a month; this bag has
flown millions of miles in the overhead compartment." I smiled sweetly. He
glared. "No. It won't. You've gotta check it." I tried again to reassure Mr.
Volunteer that "Yes. It will fit." But he insisted, "You gotta check that bag.
It's too big." Geez.Who put this little man in charge, today?
Hoping he
would get distracted, I faked a phone call (very
mature, Ellen), waiting for him
to go harass someone else. Finally, he strolled away but as I rounded the
corner, I could see he was talking to a security agent and pointing. At me! Oh.
Good. Grief.
As I approached,
the agent directed me to the wire frame bag "tester" to prove that the bag
would fit. I protested and flashed my Platinum
status but she sided with the angel and said, "Ma'am (urrggwww...) he's just
doing his job." I thought to myself, "REALLY? What job is that? Making my life
totally miserable on this beautiful Thursday morning?"
After a bit
of pushing and pulling, the bag passed the "fit test" and we proceeded, just as
the angel fluttered by again. It was then that the sound of his wings revealed
something unbecoming about my character that morning: I was suffering from a
bad case of entitlement.
I think
some of us tend to get "uppity" when we're challenged and those of us who
aren't "uppity" are just plain spoiled brats. We assume rules should be broken
(or at least bent) for us because our status exempts us from "playing along".
My
angel-bombing in Terminal A humbled me as I placed my "just
the-right-size-it-will-fit" bag on the security belt. As I kicked off my shoes
to walk through the detector, I flashed back to times when I have been
disappointed by others' poor form and was further embarrassed by my actions. It
took an angel to hold a mirror in front of me to see my own shortcomings.
Placing my
roller bag in the overhead compartment on the plane, I thanked God for a
volunteer angel who showed me that in the blink of an eye, we can go from kind,
Godly women to total self-serving all-about-me brats.
Since God chose you to be the holy
people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness,
gentleness, and patience. Colossians 3:12
I failed my
angel-test in Terminal A, but you can bet I'll be clothed in patience and
gentleness the next time a little man in a red vest gets in my face. And I'm
sure it will be sooner, rather than later. God doesn't miss a trick.
Packing for
Toronto,
Ellen
Posted by Ellen on March 30, 2010 5:23 PM
| Category: An Angel Bombing