Flight Status: Peace or Panic?
Several weeks ago I was returning home from Dallas after visiting my daughter and her family and experienced one of those classic airport scenes you sometimes witness. My flight was to go from Dallas to Denver where I would catch a connecting flight back to Minneapolis. My first flight was experiencing some delays and while waiting at the gate I was summoned to the desk. A kind gentleman explained that I was the only passenger needing to catch my particular connecting flight and the timing may be pretty tight so they were offering me a much later flight that would go through Chicago. My luggage, however, would still go to Denver and I’d catch up with it, hopefully, in Minneapolis. Because these were final flights for the evening, if I missed my connecting flight I would be in Denver overnight, likely trying to sleep in the airport. I was in no hurry to make this decision and had many questions. The kind gentleman even brought out a map of the Denver airport so we could estimate the distance between my arrival and departure gates–about a quarter mile. Amazingly, I was not really that concerned or worried. Instead I had this overwhelming sense that it’s not a big deal and God’s got this. In the end I decided to keep my flights as scheduled and just trusted that if I ended up overnight in an airport, I was supposed to be there for some reason.
When you fly Southwest you pick wherever you want to sit, so I chose a second row seat on the plane. The flight attendants and passengers around me knew my situation and were prepared to let me off first. As soon as our plane had landed in Denver, taxied to the gate and the bridge was connected, the attendant opened the door and I bounded out, determined to catch my flight, for which I was technically already late. I normally wear tennies when I fly but on this particular day I had opted for “cute” shoes. Bad choice. And now the scene I’ve only witnessed with others up until now: I ran as quickly as I could, only slowing to glance at the gate listings to be sure I was headed the right way. I even ran on the people mover and managed to dodge crowds quite impressively. About halfway there I heard an announcement over the loudspeaker stating that my flight was fully boarded. What did that mean? Was I too late? I almost gave up and was going to start walking, but something inside said to keep running. As I approached the gate there was not a soul around except for the attendant who was tidying up a bit, but the bridge was still attached. I rushed up to the attendant and breathlessly said “I’m here” while holding up my phone with the app open and ready. She slowly and nonchalantly scanned my ticket barcode, saying nothing and turning back to her work. So I boarded. Everyone was seated and waiting, staring at this breathless sweaty woman who had to go to the far back of the plane to find an open seat. I sat down and relaxed. I’d made it!
So why do I tell you all this? As noted, I was surprisingly not that anxious about this situation. I actually felt peace, which puzzled me a bit. Recently I was meditating on Philippians 4:7 which reads, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Something new struck me here. The peace we can have from a relationship with God is not just this gentle feeling of nothingness, as if one is in a calm yoga state or something. It’s not just the absence of conflict or anxiety. It has the power to GUARD my heart and my mind. I believe I’ve walked this narrow road long enough to start to trust Jesus more and more and allow his peace to truly guard me. Peace is active. It is powerful. It protects. It can overcome my worry and anxiety. It’s also not something I can just turn on. I believe it is a by-product of consistently seeking His face and living a life on mission. Of course, worry still creeps in and I will likely be on this learning curve until eternity. But this new understanding of “peace” gives me…well…a lot of peace! If this airport story had occurred several years ago I think I would have been in a panic. I’m grateful for the peace of God that guarded my heart and mind that day at the airport. (And, really, my situation wasn’t that concerning but it felt like it at the time.) Oh–Did I tell you how the story ended? Well, interestingly, once I found my way to the seat at the back of the plane, we sat there for another 25 minutes waiting for two other passengers whose plane was also delayed. Seriously?!? One would hope for a more dramatic ending. I guess I could have walked to my gate, but the story wouldn’t be as good and I may have missed the opportunity to feel peace in panic. May active, guarding peace be with you all.
