Airport Angel

Hey Friends,

I'm back. It was good to take a little siesta from writing for a few weeks, but I look forward to re-engaging with you. Hopefully in the meantime you've enjoyed the Advent Devotionals on the Salem Alliance website. These were written by you, the readers of this blog. Thank you to all who submitted them. We ended up receiving quite a few more than we could use, so if you didn't get "published" our apologies, but I believe it is a healthy exercise to write out our thoughts, even if they aren't broadly circulated.

Many of you also read the Statesman Journal article on Thanksgiving Day. I was pleased by it. There was one error…I've run long distances but never close to 100 miles. Other than that it reflected our lives and attitude quite well. We were really impressed with everyone we worked with from the paper.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We had the pleasure of spending time with our boys and other family members in the Midwest. This was my first venture in travel since becoming ill. I was very encouraged by how well it went. Travelling with three cases of feeding tube formula added a small challenge to it, but it all worked out. We got really cheap fares (only $79 one way), but realized that perhaps this was the reason that only 1/2 the airplanes worked. We spent a fair amount of time sitting around airports waiting for a maintenance guy to determine that yet another plane was inoperable. But, we made it safely, so that's what counts I guess.

While we were sitting in one airport waiting for them to find a replacement plane, a woman approached Joanna. She appeared to be about our age but had that facial look that said she had experienced a fair amount of hard living. A necklace was tattooed around her neck. She wore a sweater. She seemed nervous.

Very apologetically, she spoke to Joanna, "I'm sorry. I don't know if this appropriate. I don't mean to disturb you but I just had to say something to you." She, evidently, had been noticing Joanna's care for me and kindness toward me while we waited. She was impressed by Joanna's actions, and rightfully so. She wanted Joanna to know that she is a very special person who is doing a very beautiful thing. She commended Joanna for not leaving me but staying with me. With more apologetic words for having interrupted us, she excused herself and we never saw her again.

This lady had no way of knowing our story. Yet, from across the waiting area she could see something admirable. Character matters. Character is noticeable. Noble character shines in a culture such as the one in which we live.

Whether she knew it or not, God sent that lady to us that day. She was a messenger pronouncing God's favor towards my wife. I took pleasure in watching the whole scene unfold and the tear that was unleashed from my wife's eye.

Does this remind anyone of another surprise messenger who had a message of approval to deliver? "Greetings, you who are highly favored," the angel tells young Mary.

Character matters. Character is noticeable. Noble character shines in world such as the one we live. It's not just noticed across the waiting room; it's even noticed in heaven.

Keep Following,
John