In 1996 I made my first trip to Southeast Asia. My daughter had given me a short sleeve maroon shirt that I wore on that first trip. It was a pullover with a nice pocket and was very comfortable. I wore it on my first plane trip from Washington State to the Philippines. After our time in the Philippines I wore it on the trip home. It became a tradition that I wore this shirt every trip to Southeast Asia on the first and last flight of the trip. After so many trips and adventures in the Philippines, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Thailand the shirt finally made its last trip as the first and the last. I brought it on this trip for sentimental reasons but wore a different shirt on the start of this Adventure to Cambodia. Some how the plane trip just wasn't the same without my maroon shirt. I did survive but nostalgia did race through my mind of all the places, people, and planes that have seen that shirt. It is hard to explain the emotional attachment we can have with an innate nonliving object such as a shirt. I am glad that the real first and last always travels with me where ever I go. Knowing that the Alpha and Omega, Jesus Christ Himself, is the only first and last that I truly want as my guide.
I left Wednesday, November 28th from Columbus International Airport for the journey that God has for me. I have a great desire to share with others the true First and Last and His offer of love and eternal life. I wondered who he would have sit next to me on the three plane trips and others I would encounter in the airports. I have a few hours lay over in Chicago and Seoul before reaching Phnom Penh,
The flight from Columbus to Chicago was uneventful. I sat next to the window and a business man was to my left. I wondered and prayed how God might use me. Two rows up the steward brought two men to their seats in the exit row. The youngest, the son, was under sixteen and therefore not allowed to sit in the exit row. It was like a stalemate. The steward not giving ground and the dad not knowing what to do. I spoke up and volunteered to exchange seats with the young man. The steward said okay and I moved to a seat with more leg room. I could not generate any conversation with the father during the flight. As we landed I discovered that he was headed to the Philippines with his son for a vacation. A short conversation ensued but nothing of a spiritual nature. Sometimes God does not open a door and you always have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirits leading. Arriving in Chicago's busy airport is always and experience. Making my way through the crowds and down a vast tunnel I arrived at the train that takes you to the International Terminal.
Although I had received boarding passes from United all the way to Phnom Penh I did not have the correct ones from Asiana Airlines. I was able to fast pass to the desk because of holding a gold card and get my boarding passes for Asiana. The clerk noticed my carry-on bag and said she thought it was too big. How could it be? I have used this bag the last three trips to Cambodia. It has never been too big. Then I was told to put my bag on the scales to see how much it weighed. Low and behold it was like Papa Bear in Goldilocks, it was too big! Weighed too much! They told me I would have to take things out of the bag and they would check in through to Phnom Penh (at no additional cost). "Now where and how can I do that? I only have this one bag." I thought. I told them that I did not have any other bag. One of the ladies disappeared for a short while returning with a smile and plastic shoppers bag with Asiana Airlines insignia plastered on it's side. I unloaded anything valuable and things I would need for the flight into my carry-on plastic bag. Now my true carry-on weighed correctly and I could continue to security and my gate. Once through security I made my way to the departure gate. There I ran into a lady I had met on the shuttle train to the terminal waiting to board the flight to Seoul, the one I would be on, with two carry-on bags bigger than my original one and they weighed more than mine too. Airlines just don't make sense.
She was headed to the Philippines to visit family and friends. Her family is quite large with four sons and three daughters. She is the only one living in the USA. She is married to a fifty year old American who works in construction and is gone most of the time. She is only twenty nine and has no responsibilities. Life for her is just to go shopping in the mall, watch television, take Zumba lessons and wait for her husband to come home. He is working out of state because that is where his job is at the moment. She is not interested in any spiritual conversation but lives a senseless meaningless life. It is easy to see that her life is boring and pleasure is the only medication that numbs her existence. Nothing glorious to feel or sense because self her only pursuit. Having two carry on bags are not envied by me when accompanied by such emptiness.
From the trip from Chicago to Seoul I was seated next to a young woman who is expecting her first child on March thirtieth. That is what she told me and I know from experience you do not question a new expecting mother about dates and such. She is going to Seoul to meet up with her husband in the Air Force for two weeks. She is also in the Air Force stationed in Miami Florida. It is easy to see the large multicolored tattoo on her right shoulder down almost to her elbow. It has floral fauna flowing downward with some letters mixed in which if they make up some word or words I do not know. Later as she stood to leave for the restroom I noticed some name written on her chest peaking out above the cut of her blouse. I am always perplexed by tattoos and tattoo etiquette. I mean can you talk about them with person who has one. Is the tattoo meant to be seen by everyone and if asked would the person proudly show you? I remained silent on hers in our conversations because I thought hers were meant for only her husband to enjoy and I would leave it that way. She was very articulate and well mannered. Her difficulties traveling by plane while pregnant were the swelling of her feet that caused much discomfort and frequent trips to the restroom. Her interest too did not go towards any spiritual conversation. My prayers for her continue to be that her and her husband will sense the greatness of creation when they experience God's greatness wrapped in a little baby. Not just theirs in March but by the baby who changed the world by His birth our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
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