Page 6 - FLIP BOOK TOPICS (A)

As I arrived at the airport, I noticed that the ticket-taker, the baggage-handler and the air
traffic controller were all the same person.
As he took my bag and began to process my ticket, he informed me that the cloud ceiling
might be too low for the incoming plane to land in Kokomo.
I tensed up and made it clear to him that the plane had to land; otherwise I couldn’t board,
and I would miss showing up to speak to more than a thousand people.
As I was filing my appeal, the ticket-taker/baggage-handler morphed into the air traffic
controller, and I overheard the pilot of the incoming plane telling him that they would try to
land in spite of the weather.
The pilot tried once to no avail but said he would try once more. I ramped up my protest and
reminded the air traffic controller of how important it was to get the plane to the gate.

Then came the bad news. After a second attempt, the pilot announced, “We can’t get the
plane down. We’re on our way to the next stop.”

My response was not admirable. As the ticket-taker handed the ticket back to me he said,
“Aren’t you a minister?”

I could have crawled in a hole. Sheepishly, I said, yes—to which he replied, “Then God will
take care of you!”
Fretting, I walked away all in a knot about what I would do, only to remember that an
attorney friend had a small plane and had offered to provide transportation if I ever needed it.
I called him, and he happily responded with instructions about where I should meet him.

As I left the airport lobby, I felt ashamed. I had missed an opportunity to magnify Christ.
How different it would have been if I had let the ticket-taker/baggage-handler/air traffic
controller know that it was important for me to get to Grand Rapids, but regardless of the
outcome, my life was in the hands of Jesus,
Who had consistently guided and provided for my life for many years. If I had magnified
Christ like that, think of the joy of going back to tell him the “rest of the story.”
How different it would have been if my one expectation had been to magnify Christ
regardless of my circumstances.

If we are to walk worthy of Christ, we have to live with just one expectation: Wherever we
are or whomever we are with, we will seek to magnify Christ!