Angels In Disguise?

The one part of my normal routine that got all out of whack during our stay in Oklahoma last week was my daily study time with the Lord.  Now… that is not to say that I didn’t have a special time with the Lord each day.  It was just at a different time, in a different place and without my usual compliment of study aids that I’ve kinda grown accustom to having at my finger tips. Today was really the first day that felt like I’d finally got back to my comfortable routine! 

As I began a new study in my other favorite book of Colossians, I came across verse nine in chapter one, where Paul is praying for the church at Colossae.  Here he says, “For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you.  We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight.”  (Gods Word  ©) At that point I sat back and began to investigate the thought that I should constantly be aware of and/or looking for our Heavenly Father’s spiritual wisdom and insight, wherever I am!  With that revelation, I suddenly remembered a funny incident on our trip where I should have been looking for His insight instead of seeking my own answer to the situation at hand.

On the trip out to Oklahoma I had thought it best to see if I could book a flight where we would not have to change planes.  This reasoning turned out to be my first tactical error of the trip.  My second error in judgment came as a result of the first mistake. By not changing planes, my wife and I basically sat for five or so hours strait.  This resulted in my wife being fairly stiff and not too open to directions at the end of the flight.  Our plane made an initial quick jump from Sacramento, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.  Once in Vegas everyone except for about twenty of us debarked as the airline was offering special cheap flights to the gaming capital of the world.  The plane was on the ground for about twenty minutes.  New passengers came aboard and then we took off for the final leg to Tulsa.

But, before the new passengers began filing down the narrow aisle, I had my wife move from the aisle seat to the window seat.  My thinking was that she would enjoy watching the passing scenery and thereby stay more focused and active.  Boy was I ever wrong!  Instead of watching the outside world, she ended up looking at the back of the seat in front of her for the next three hours, which left her in sort of a dazed condition.  When the plane landed and it was time for us to get up, my wife would not budge.  So, being the mighty man of God that I am, who is sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I grabbed her hand and attempted to quietly drag her to the aisle!  In response to my attempt at manhandling her, my wife simply grabbed the middle seat in a bear hug and would not let go!

Needless to say, I was quite flustered and did not know what to do.  I finally just sat back and let everyone else on the plane get off.  When my soft and gentle words of encouragement seemed to have little effect on my wife, I threw in the towel and uttered one of those famous emergency pleas to God.  I truly believe that God has a sense of humor as I can now imagine Him sitting on the throne watching my antics while chuckling the whole time!  When I finally came to my senses and yielded the situation to Him, He immediately took charge.  Suddenly one of the flight attendants appeared at my side.  This lady had been on the flight since Sacramento and was part of the original scene where we had barely made the flight (see yesterday’s post).  She had worked with my son to assure our safe passage on the plane, and had come by our seat to talk with us when we had landed back in Las Vegas.

She knelt down next to me and asked if my wife needed a wheelchair.  I just sort of leaned back in my chair and exasperatedly stated that she just didn’t want to leave the plane.  With that information, the wonderful flight attendant reached over to my wife, took her by the hand and said with her rich southern accent, “Well come on Honey, you’ve got a wedding to go to!”  My wife’s entire demeanor instantly changed and she broke into the biggest smile, stood up and walked hand in hand with the flight attendant up the aisle and out to the ramp.  I just sat there dumbfounded and finally snapped to when two young men dressed in tight jeans, boots, cowboy hats and the biggest, shiniest silver belt buckles I’d ever laid eyes on, came up behind me and asked if there was anything they could do to help me! 

This morning as I laughingly reviewed that event that occurred early on in our trip, I shook my head in amazement when I put it in line with the verse in Colossians 1:9.  If I had been looking for God’s insight at the beginning of the event, I probably would have handled it a lot differently and would have saved myself a lot of frustration and personal embarrassment.  You don’t realize how many stupid thoughts can go through your head when you try to work things out on your own accord.  Everything from “everybody on the plane is looking at me” to “they are going to think that I am accosting this women and have me arrested” flew through my mind in a matter of seconds.  And you know… thoughts like that don’t help you take command of the situation at hand!

What should I have done?  I should have been more aware of God’s hand in the situation.  If I had stopped at the first reaction of my wife’s and asked the Lord for help, I probably would have received different directions than the ones I tried and would have quickly and quietly calmed the situation and then solved the difficulty.

You know, it’s funny now, but it sure wasn’t then!  But, I am a quick learner and proceeded to do things a lot differently on the flight back home.  So, once again, let me encourage you to learn from my antics and mistakes!  Save yourself from much heartache and seek the Lord first!  Wherever you go, stay in tune to His leadings and directions. They can come from just about anywhere at anytime!  Who knows… Those two young cowboys and that sweet southern flight attendant just might have been angels in disguise!  You never know what God may have in store for you!  Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What (crazy) things am I expecting today?”