Jesus is Here 2

Our return Home went surprisingly well especially since we were traveling 2 days after Christmas and on a connecting flight.

Oh there were little glitches. My Speaking Engagement in San Diego was the next day. We really had little margin for delays and extended layovers. But we’re learning to trust our Lord with our time. He is showing us that when He has given us an assignment He will insure that we get there on time. Of course the fact that our online seat assignments were lost put that faith to an immediate test. Learning that the flight was overbooked added to the tension. When departure time came and went the suspense grew. Our connection was now an issue and we still did not have seats. 5 minutes before boarding we had seats. Once in the air the pilots turned a 70 minute flight into less than 50 minutes in the air. The attendants had served beverages to about a third of the passengers when the Captain announced they were preparing for landing. The crew was noticeably surprised and abruptly scuttled their beverage service. I smiled as I looked at my watch and saw that we were less than 10 minutes late. We would have an hour to make our connection. “Our time is in His hands.”

Once on the ground Shirley and I agreed that I would run ahead to our connecting Gate and make sure that we had seats. Not only did we have seats. We were given the choice of exit row seats – the ones with more leg room and no middle seat. Dahhh! Ahhhhh! What will we do? You guessed it! The only seats better than these are in front of that teasingly thin, and always partially opened, little curtain.

This flight too would be delayed. But we had made our connection and could now relax reassured that our Lord had guided us through one more tense situation.

The final leg of our journey from Salt Lake City to Ontario (California) was in a Southwesterly direction. The sun is low in the Southern sky at this time of year. So we were literally flying into the sunset. I had the window seat since Shirley prefers the aisle. The spectacle of brilliantly colored skies and snow covered mountains alive with every shade of red and orange held me spellbound for most of the flight. Our flight path ran directly over Las Vegas. At twilight this gaudy city is always a spectacle of lights. On this evening it lay on the desert gray and ghostlike, virtually non existent, darkened in the light of a setting sun so brilliant I could hardly look directly into it. Our Lord tells us He “dwells in unapproachable light.” I understood that more clearly on this flight.

Landing that evening I came back to earth in more ways than one. I was thinking about the Speaking Engagement mulling over what I would say. I was also very conscious of the financial challenge facing destiny:Life! We were 4 days from the end of 2007 and nearly $10,000.00 short of what was needed to settle all accounts payable. I remembered the call I got while in Salt Lake City requesting I do Memorial Services for 2 Families on the morning we were planning to rush to San Diego. To serve these Families would shorten our time considerably and leave us in heavy traffic for the trip. Still I agreed to do this service for them. This is one of the things our Lord has given us to do under destiny:Life! And the income was necessary. Once more we would trust our Lord to give us what my Parents called “traveling mercies.”


Our cousin, Dale Winslow, picked us up using our own car as we’d arranged. Settling behind the wheel I noticed immediately that he had filled the gas tank. I felt grateful. $40.00 worth of gas was a BIG DEAL to me at that moment. And I told him so!

Arriving Home that night we found 2 small monetary gifts among a box full of pieces of mail. We were once more reassured. At the same time we were uneasy. We’d learned, as well, that one of the Families I was to serve Friday morning had found another Pastor. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew how critical the income was but Friday would be much less stressful. The Father of the deceased in the remaining Service had requested a “Brief!” Graveside Memorial. His Son was 34 years old. His name was James Christopher. That’s the name we’ve given to our oldest Son. My heart tightened somewhat as he told me this.

My heart was still heavy as I met this man Friday morning. He was accompanied by a small group of Family, his Son’s fiancée, and some Friends. As I concluded the Service he stood immediately and gripped my hand. He was noticeably pleased. He put an arm around me and asked if he could give me something as a show of gratitude. I wanted, so much, to be able to say, “No! That won’t be necessary!” But I knew I could not. He needed the dignity of giving in this moment. I needed his gift.

Later, when I checked the pocket where I’d put the crumpled bill I discovered it was $100.00’s. Our Lord’s reassurance was anything but subtle.