Travel by air today is difficult, more so when you cannot walk long distances. I had six wheelchair assistants. One young man was from Ethiopia, only in the country for about a year. He studied concert piano for years, but COVID hit shortly after his arrival and now he was pushing people around the Denver airport in a wheelchair. He was fast though and needed to be for the long distance we needed to do in about 20 minutes (including a train from one concourse to another).
Another was a pastor’s daughter and while we waited for luggage we talked about the LORD. She liked my “Amazing Grace” mask and told me she met a lot of Christians in her job and was so pleased to know there were so many of “us” out there.
Two others were also immigrants to this country, a young man in Boise, and a middle-aged woman in Portland, both of them delightful. They were happy with their work. I know, I asked.
Then there were two airline employees filling in at an airport without wheelchair assistants. They were both pleasant and helpful, but both complained just a little bit about the airport dismissing the wheelchair attendants about a year ago and how this now was part of their job description. They did it, but you could tell, they did not enjoy it.
I was reminded by each one of these attendants about how much our attitude and thankfulness affect our everyday lives.
Colossians 3:17 commands us that, “whatever [we] do, in word or in deed,” we are to “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
I do not know what motivated the young man from Ethiopia to be happy pushing wheelchairs after studying concert piano most of his life. I think I know what motivated the young Christian woman, you could see the love of the Savior all over her face when she talked (she was wearing a face shield, not a mask), her smile was frequent and lovely.
I do know that our attitude about what life has handed us will affect not only our own wellbeing, but also those for whom we work, and those whom we see each day—whatever we do!
