Lost Luggage

When I was in college there was a skit on Saturday Night Live one time about “The Island of Lost Luggage.” It was hilarious. But when it really happens, especially to a frightened person in a strange city, it's far from funny.

Today I had a long layover between two flights. I walked around the airport a bit. There was a lady sitting on the end of a row of seats near the baggage claim. At first she looked a bit familiar but, no, I didn't know her. She just looked a little like somebody I knew. Then I noticed that she started crying and then she lay down across several of the seats and started sobbing. I felt like I had to do something so I walked over and said, “Are you all right?,” which is what one says in such a situation but is ridiculous because she obviously wasn't. She said, “No. I've been waiting for my luggage for five hours!” in a decidedly foreign accent that I couldn't quite place. I said, “I am so sorry.” I asked if she had checked with the lost baggage office which she had. I offered my phone which she didn't need. I mentioned a few other ideas all of which she had tried or there were reasons they wouldn't do in the situation. After a while I finally said, “I wish there was some way I could help you but I can't think of anything.” I decided she just needed someone nearby who she knew cared about her plight so I just sat there a couple seats away. Near enough to be there but not close enough to be a threat.

After sitting there a while I decided there was some praying that needed to be done including asking that this poor woman's bag would show up. Within a few minutes the conveyor started rumbling again with a new load of bags from another flight. The woman got up to go look them over. Then she came up from behind me with suitcase in tow and a smile on her face. She stopped and said in her thick accent, “Thank you for your moral support.” I said “Ah, so there it is! Good! Well God bless you” and she was on her way.

So I guess that's why I was put there in that in-between city for those couple of hours today. Hours I thought would be wasted. It's curious to me how some prayers can be answered just like that. Quickly, simply. All neat and tidy with a nice little happy ending. Then there are the others. Things that are of such enormously greater import than a lost suitcase full of clothing. And the answer doesn't come. And it seems the matter has been set aside or completely ignored. I know that's not the case, but it can feel that way. Another flight arrives. Surely this is finally it. You wait at the conveyor belt and watch as other's receive what they are waiting for and go about their lives. But the belt stops again. And still nothing. Each time the loss feels deeper and more hopeless. God has his own ways and his own timing. He is dependable, but certainly not predictable. Each situation is handled on a case by case basis and you just can't ever pin him down. And sometimes that is excruciatingly difficult.