I knew it was going to be a long shot, but my heart was still engaged in hope. I raced through the jet way as quickly as possible to get a glimpse at the “Departures Board.” A flight to Denver wasn’t even on the board, not mine, and nobody else. I was stuck at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC and there was nothing I could do about it.
A trip to a kiosk confirmed that I had been re-booked on a 6 am flight, and so the “bad news” phone calls began. By this time it was late, very late, and the concept of traveling to a local hotel for a very few hours of sleep seemed like an unjustifiable expense, so I invoked my best survival skills and started planning for an overnight on a Dulles Airport bench.
I was in the main terminal, and it was now about 11:30 pm. It felt like a ghost town. The open spaces were vacant and still. The prerecorded PA announcements bounced off the curved ceilings and around the expansive atrium like a cue ball against the rails of a pool table.
I had made the best use of an overcoat and four days of laundry to establish a padded sleeping area, yes, I was quite a sight. By this time it was midnight, and my desire for rest was on a collision course with an unexpected invasion. It was subtle at first, but then in waves, airport maintenance personnel assaulted the tasks in front of them. One drove an impressive sweeper/polisher, another walked around with a putty knife looking for inappropriately discarded gum and scraped what couldn’t be swept and shouldn’t be polished. Another team of three worked to replace fluorescent light bulbs above ticket counters. Others vacuumed, some emptied, a few arranged, all with focus, purpose and effectiveness.
By 3:45 am automatic doors started to slide open in an act of obedience to the arriving passengers. By 4 am the place was alive, and it was ready. Dulles International Airport was once again ready, for planned and unplanned activity.
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ~ John 14:1-3
Every night and every day, He’s getting ready. For you. For those that embrace His grace. While I do my best to make my way through another day in exile, the Savior doesn’t sleep.
“I will come again and will take you to myself.” He’s prepared.
He loves us that much.
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