Missing Luggage


It’s a terrible feeling. You’re standing at the luggage carousel just after getting off your flight, watching the luggage come out of the shoot, waiting for your own suitcases to show up.  People are grabbing theirs’ off the moving belt. The number of bags is beginning to dwindle.  There’s just one more bag left circling, and it’s not yours.  You wait another couple of minutes thinking that yours is about to come out of the shoot any moment.  But, nothing happens.  And you realize, although you have gotten to your destination, your luggage has not.  That’s exactly what happened to me last week when I arrived in Managua, Nicaragua.  Both of my suitcases had been left behind in Miami.  Of course, I was just a little bit upset! 

I will say, however, that considering the number of people traveling and the enormous amount of luggage an airline has to process in a day, I am somewhat amazed that not more luggage gets mixed up, left behind, or sent to the wrong destination.  It is something we take for granted. Thus, when our luggage doesn’t show up on time, we are a bit upset, asking questions like, “How could this happen to me?” and “What am I going to do now?” 

Of course, we do have a right to expect our luggage to show up at our destination because it is in some ways a promise that the airline has made to us. As we hand our bags over to the person at the ticket counter; and as they receive it, tag it, and place it on their belt to who-knows-where, they are in essence making a promise to us that, if we entrust them with our bags they will get those bags to the same place to which we are going.  But, an airline is run by people. And, no matter how good their intentions, they cannot always keep their promises. There will be times when they will fail; times when someone messes up; times when they break their promise—just as we all do at one time or another!  And, we end up with missing luggage. 

I like what the Bible says about God and his promises:  “Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.”  (Joshua 21:45 – NIV)  This verse was a reminder to the people then and a reminder to us today, that God will never mess up; that he will keep every promise he has ever made to us.  We could say, God will never lose our luggage! 

So today, let’s put our trust in God and in His Word, believing that, “he who promised is faithful.”  (Hebrews 10:23 – NIV)  He truly is! 

Have a great day! 

Pastor Tim

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