January 2, 2003, Tony Humphreys, Prestatyn, UK

Flight J316 to Passport Control

Image Caption: Sunset under the Golden Gate Bridgecomma San Francisco CA. My most fantastic place on earth.

Sunset under the Golden Gate Bridgecomma San Francisco CA. My most fantastic place on earth.

Submitted

Christmas has gone for another year, its time to look forward to the holidays, is a sentiment echoed all across the country this time of year. The wait, the anticipation and the highs and lows on the way. You get to the airport, drag hundreds of bags into check in, move clothes from case to case to get each one under 20 kilos, check in and off to security. Next you subject your bags to a zapping and raise up a quick prayer “please don’t let the alarm go off” but lo and behold even though you have placed all metal in the trays for x-ray your heart sinks as a never ending ‘bong’ rings out and everyone turns around and takes a long hard gander as your are frisked. It does end (eventually) and you pick up your bags and head off for a seat with a view. You have been awake for hours and hours. You woke up at 2am unable to sleep and ironed dry your sopping clothes as you crammed them in the case (well I do) and then paced around the house for another hour ‘will 6am ever arrive, will my lift turn up, why is there nothing on the TV this early’. You sit in that lounge, there are flights departing to all four corners of the globe, thousands of travellers patiently (hopefully) waiting for their departure. You have your passport and boarding card in your shirt pocket, you take it out, read the tiny print on the back and put it back. You get up, look in the shops, walk around. No matter how much you have previously said “I am not getting breakfast, they feed me on the plane,” you still go for bacon and eggs. You are excited. You have been through excitement, panic, anticipation, more panic, “where’s that passport”, boredom, “I did pack the case myself”, hunger, temptation, even more panic, vulnerability and probably more panic. All in the space of 8 hours but if your are anything like me, when I am there I would never change it for anything in this world. Isn’t this familiar to Christians. We are excited, we are at the airport. We have our boarding pass to Heaven, we have our visa in Jesus. We will go through the microscope of life and like with the metal detector, we will be scrutinised. We will experience panic, we will have problems but we look forward in anticipation. We even tell others where we are going: America; New Zealand; China; Heaven; Switzerland. We might be afraid of flying, but we know that when it is time to board that plane, we keep in our heads the firm image of our destination, those sun drenched beaches, the open road and that snow laden piste. Anticipation is a wonderful gift from God, it motivates us, comforts us and inspires us. I must be mad, I look forward to my time in airports. I have a phrase that I call my Tony-ism “It is better to travel than to arrive”. This rings good for all my trips. Although the big destination that I am headed for will be even better than my lifelong travel, now that must be good!