“IGNORE” & “IGNORANT” ARE SIMILAR FOR A REASON
My wife and I flew into JFK in New York on the first morning of our trek to Israel thinking that everything was ok. Why wouldn’t we think everything was ok? Everything was not ok.
Upon our arrival, we strategically navigated our way through a sea of stranded travelers to arrive at our check in desk to receive our connecting boarding passes. Wearied, zombie-looking pilgrims from around the world were encamped on the floor, trying to entertain their agitated children or staring blankly across the terminal with looks of hopelessness. They had been there for days. No showers. The further we walked the more the atmosphere took on that of the “walking dead”. What was going on? There was a storm in New York but that was days ago.
We thought the line to check in and get our boarding pass was quite long until we realized that is was for securing a hotel somewhere in New York. Our flight had been cancelled for days. We had received no text message, email, phone call, telegram or smoke signal. To me, at that moment, this was one of the most colossal oversights in the history of the solar system. Our trusted airline just handed us a business card. We were told to call the third number to discuss options out of New York. The lines were jammed. As many as 10 people a minute were verbally informed that their flights had also been cancelled for days. Weddings were missed, vacations obliterated, deposits lost, surgeries cancelled, and military furloughs squelched. Zero communication.
I asked a representative of the airline, “Why no communication?” He said, “It is difficult to send out thousands of emails, not everyone has a cell phone.” I found that comment to be very interesting. I wondered why an airline would hire a guy who had been in solitary confinement for over 25 years to represent their company? Every person I saw seemed to have a cell phone growing out of their ear. He may have a “flip-up” phone. I shouldn’t be so harsh.
So, we prayed, made some phone calls, found a flight out of Newark a day later, walked through subzero winds without winter coats to a rental car company, found a hotel in Jersey and we flew out the next day to meet nearly 30 people who were counting on us to lead them through the Holy Land. More on that in my next blog.
What’s the take away?
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
Talk to the debt collector rather than avoid them. Take the calls you want to ignore.
“Ignore” and “ignorant” are similar looking words for a reason.
Talk with the person you have a conflict with—resolve it-don’t avoid it.
Communicate more verbally and non-verbally.
Communicate bad news or the results will be worse.
Talk with God because he wants to talk with you.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver (Proverbs 25:11).
More from Israel later.
Pastor Gary Hewins
lifepoints.life
