Upgraded to First Class

I am a little slow sometimes, but I finally got the complete message the Lord was speaking to me through my LA travel adventure. Here is the update.

When I was flying to Los Angeles to teach a workshop, the Charlotte airport was overrun with scads of stranded people due to bad weather in the North East. After waiting in line for 1 1/4 hours to get up to the ticket counter, I was told I would not be able to make my flight. Suddenly in the midst of this disappointment and inconvenience, my direct flight was shuffled around and I was heading to Philadelphia to catch a flight to LA. Excuse me, but isn't that the wrong direction?

When I arrived in Philadelphia I managed to catch an earlier flight out to LA. As I stood trying to convince the ticket agent that I should get on the earlier flight, suddenly he informed me that he was upgrading my ticket to first class. Then with a tone that implied that he didn't care who got the seat, he said, "Someones going to get the seat, so it might as well be you." Exactly, I heartily agreed. Still breathing heavily from having not recovered from my jaunt through the airport, a sweet sigh of relief escaped my lips.

Does it seem odd that the Lord sometimes takes us totally in the wrong direction to get us to His destination? However, the consolation out weighed the grueling day of travel by miles. I sat utterly content in first class as I was catered to for more than 5 hours in my big comfy leather chair.

When I arrived at the airport in LA for my return flight home, I discovered that my flight had accidentally been deleted. There I stood again in line for another 1 1/2 hours until the ticket agent managed to get me the last seat on my flight. I scurried through the airport to get to my gate, but wouldn't you know it, I was detained at security. All of my belongings were scoured amidst panicked yelling and the command to freeze, as the security guards pursued a possible gunman near-by. Just your average day of travel!

I was almost in tears by the time I got on the plane and discovered that my seat was on the last row (up against the bathroom) window seat. In my estimation that was the worst seat on the plane and now that I had grown accustomed to first class I didn't care for this very much. I had a bad attitude. However, it occured to me that the Lord was speaking through a real life-application lesson, so I chose to humble myself and receive. I didn't want to be detained later when the Holy Spirit searched my character and found me wanting in the area of humility.

The Bible says that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. That means that the only way up is down, and like childbirth having our character shaped into Christ likeness, isn't easy, or convenient, but often messy. Nevertheless, the rewards are immeasurable.

Jesus taught this same lesson to the invited guest at a Pharisee's house when He noticed they were looking for the seat of honor at the table. He relayed His own Parable (nothing to do with an airplane) suggesting the guest take the low seat for themselves, so they wouldn't have to be "demoted".

The Lord loves to give gifts to His children and I believe He took great pleasure upgrading me to first class during my travel fright, but He also takes pleasure when our character is upgraded to first class through humility.

Although my goal is usually to aim for the easiest path, the Lord has an entirely different purpose, let alone route in mind when He intervenes in the affairs of men.
Through this experience I was reminded of some valuable truths. #1. The only way up is down. #2. Humility is a choice. I suggest that we choose to humble ourselves, so that our character can be upgraded to first class, allowing the Lord to exalt us at the proper time.

Summer Growth

Summer has kicked off in full speed. My family and I have began a summer incentive campaign. I call it The Great Summer Leap. Each of us have designated specific areas in our lives that we are working to make advancement in. We are also all reading Proverbs this summer for a refresher in wisdom. Instead of letting the summer months flit away without productivity, our aim is forward movement.

This came about as Mark and I developed a workout schedule for Samuel's soccer training goals. Establishing goals for him compelled us to join in the challenge and seek more growth ourselves, although we have certainly been on the accelerated track these last five years when it comes to change and growth.

Some of the areas that I have chosen to advance in are; specific physical health, writing, and reading goals, decorating our office, increasing my workshop schedule, going through Dave Ramsey videos, working to establish a website for our Haitian friend's ministry, preparing to host a home group through our church and more.

Not only do we plan to grow by leaps this summer like adolescents do, we also plan to have loads of fun. I have discovered that fun is an extremely necessary ingredient for my fire/wind personality, so I take the job of scheduling gleeful activities, seriously. If I find myself becoming complacent and somber, I can usually trace it back to the lack of fun and social interaction in my life. Some of us were just made to boogie. How will you grow this summer?