Angels Also Come With Baggage

Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths. Psalm 25

I don’t have a fear of flying, but I do have airport-a-phobia. I only fly commercially once every three to five years, so every time I fly, I find the systems and processes to be completely altered. I was pleased to discover how well organized Sea-Tac had become since our last visit there. People weren’t queued up in front of airline counters; we got to go directly to a kiosk to grab our boarding passes and baggage tags. Of course, that’s when things went south. Artificial Intelligence doesn’t mix well with what passes for organic intelligence (if one dares call what I exercise “intelligence”).

Since I hadn’t booked our luggage ahead of time, I had to purchase tags at the kiosk. It printed my receipts and two baggage tags. Sadly, I had only glanced at my receipts and they registered in my brain as boarding passes. They looked like boarding passes, but in clear fine print they said (I paraphrase): “Nope, not a boarding pass.” Oops.

We went to the self-service baggage station (where we found our first queue), and as we stood there creeping along at about six inches per minute, my better half mentioned our boarding passes weren’t boarding passes. I stood there in complete silence as I read the receipt top to bottom and confirmed that she was, as usual, correct. Apparently I had missed a step at the kiosk (which no doubt burbled electronic chuckles when we left). 

I was at a loss for what to do (having committed myself to playing the old, befuddled duffer at the airport in order to garner sympathy from roaming gnomes). A woman in line behind us offered to take one of us to a kiosk to get our passes, so the smarter one went with her while I shuffled our bags forward, as well as the unofficially unattended bag of our Samaritan helper. It didn’t take them long to procure our boarding passes; finally, all was right with the universe.

I am often amazed by the kindness of strangers. We did not ask one another what our beliefs were. We were strangers, traveling in a strange land (which is what airports are to infrequent flyers). The kiosk was efficient in taking money for our baggage claims, but it failed to take us back to the electronic path I needed for obtaining boarding passes. I have no doubt it was programmed to deal with idiots, but it had never met the likes of me!

But a woman, traveling alone and overhearing a conversation between traveling neophytes stepped up to the challenge. She not only took time out to help my wife collect the documents we needed to move forward, she trusted a complete stranger to watch over her own trunk and keep it safe. 

And here’s the kicker: As I struggled to move our two bags-to-be-checked forward, along with two awkward carry-ons, the couple behind me helped push the stranger’s suitcase forward as well.

While we often hear reports of disorderly travelers causing chaos in the skies, or lines stretching for blocks, the truth is that most travelers subconsciously realize they are part of a community, moving about to unite with friends or family, enjoying vacations, attending to crises or sundry business matters. We may feel, at times, like cattle snaking our way through various queues, but those have made our safety, security, and processing, for the most part, much faster and smoother.

Yes, there are dipsticks we meet along the way, so I make sure I keep my oil of kindness topped off before doing anything. There are dipsticks, to be sure, but they are outnumbered by far by an army of angels who see the face of God in those with whom they travel. Those angels have always been a blessing – an incarnation of God that is every bit as real as what we see in Jesus of Nazareth. That’s not surprising since each person is created in God’s image!

I am thankful for all the angels who have ministered to me over the years around the world and here, in this our valley. It seems we are united by the baggage we carry.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)