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