Well, I am home after going to Montana to officiate the Celebration of Life for a wonderful young man, whose marriage to my friend’s daughter I also officiated nearly 23 years ago. It was one of those bittersweet occasions. There was the sadness following the death, and the sweetness seeing old friends and making new ones in the LORD.
Everyone in the small towns where I stayed and visited were so kind and loving. I have many thoughts about the service and about the wonderful people I met.
But this morning I am thinking about the air travel. Boy, am I thinking about the air travel! Four flights. Five times embarking or disembarking the planes from the tarmac via steps or small ramps. Three times using a jetway. One 45-minute delay. One race through Denver Airport. One flight with nothing, not even water, three with drinks only.
Thankfully, I ordered wheelchair assistance. My connection in Portland was from one end of the C-Concourse to the other. My connection in Denver, after the 45-minute delay was from the far end of Concourse B to the far end of Concourse A, via a train! I would never have made that one without an amazingly fast wheelchair attendant!
It was sometime during that last connection and flight that I started singing to myself that old song, “I’ll Fly Away!”
Then I started to laugh. I told God I hoped my flight on “Rapture Air” was better than our current airlines!
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” [1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV]
“I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away. When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away”