The Pilot is Waiting.....

"The pilot is here, the plane is here... but the flight crew is stuck in New York,"  a voice said through the static over the intercom. Unknown delay. At least an hour. Which of course, means three.

We had made it through the snow and ice, which was only marginally an issue the first hour, and then returned the  rental car uneventfully. Thus, we sat with 5 hours to spare in the airport, and now a delay.

We had stationed ourselves in front of giant windows that looked out over the runways. We had already exhausted the meager offerings to look at in the Jet Blue concourse of Logan airport. There was one measly shop and a few expensive but unexciting snack shops. Blessedly there was wifi. We wrote our friends, read our e-Bible, made a shopping list, checked it twice, and then looked out the window.

The sun was setting and the clouds were billowing pink and purple and golden mushrooms. I sketched and thought about how all these tired cranky people around me were all waiting for the same few people to arrive so that they could get on with their life. Those lost few were not the most important elements of the flight. We had the pilot, who would  guide the craft for the journey. We had the means to travel and it was cleaned and gassed and ready to fly. It was just those absent few, normally overlooked people who showed us how to buckle our belts or barf into a small bag that were missing.... but for them, hundreds of people waited now.

I think that is a little bit why God delays sometimes. We get weary and impatient for justice, for healing, for wrongs made right, and right rewarded.  And yet we all wait. The Pilot that will guide us safely on our journey Home is there and He knows how to fly us there, and most of us are waiting there, willing, anxious, ready.
We trust the Pilot, and He has a full plane.... why does He linger?  Because sometimes the ones we usually overlook, and don't think twice about, are part of His crew... and He is waiting that none should miss the plane.

Two hours later, the stranded crew from New York came racing to the gate where we all were gathered. The entire mass of passengers erupted into applause. We were all there....now we could go Home.

Luke 15: 7, 10
⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”