Contents:
WHEN WILL
I EVER LEARN?
SEPARATION
OF CHURCH AND STATE?
BACK TO THE AIRPORT
Coming to you live from directly opposite the Pub West/Ouest, in Toronto’s International Airport, it’s My Point of View, reflections from my life, shared with a few friends…
About two years ago, give or take a week, I was spending an unplanned night in the Miami Airport Hotel. You see, I had, against my better judgement, booked a flight with BWIA, the Caribbean’s safest airline. (Of course, it’s easy to be safe when half of your planes don’t leave the ground… and no doubt, BWIA holds the potential to be the world’s most improved airline when it comes to on-time flights.)
On that particular trip, the captain reported that a luggage cart had been blown into the plane by one of the engines, and as a result the plane would require repair or replacement (at the airline’s option, proof of purchase required) and so we all had to go to the hotel and wait until the early morning flight. Funny thing, they put us in the hotel, but we don’t get access to our luggage, so woe unto you if your toiletries are packed in the cargo hold… So, on my arrival, I declared to myself: I will never fly BWIA again!!
Well, look me here…. sitting in the airport at 12:22 p.m., and my plane left at about 9:40 a.m. (9:30 scheduled departure)… Yes, my plane left… flew for a while, and then, the captain comes on saying that we have a mechanical problem: the flaps that need to go up for high speed travel, wouldn’t. So the plane that needed to get to Antigua by 1, couldn’t. And me? I kinda laughed to myself, and began to pray for the souls assembled on the plane, just in case. Silly me, I should have prayed for God to fix the plane, but by the time I’d thought of that, the pilot had already dumped the fuel (DUMPED IT WHERE??? I asked myself) and was headed back to the very fogged-in, and maybe even closed Toronto airport. And all the way, I was laughing to myself… I knew I shouldn’t have taken BWIA… When will I ever learn?
So they sent us for $13 of food in the café… and now I’m heading back to hear the news… the saga continues….
And continue it has… they’ve shipped us off to the Regal Constellation hotel… a nice hotel – has cool datajack pay phones too, so I’m connected to CompuServe right now. I’m not sure why, but my version 3.0 of CS software isn’t recognizing my password, which is not good, because 3.0 will allow me to browse the web and stuff… so I’m downloading another copy now… but I digress… =) the point is, I made a commitment to myself not to fly this airline ever again, and look I’m here, and see what happened? Just goes to show… =)
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal” With these words, the United States declared themselves to be independent – free from the tyranny of the Old World. When America was founded, one of the primary principles was freedom of choice, and religious liberty. Many who came to the “New World” came to avoid the state religion, and be able to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, without persecution from the state religion.
And so, America was founded, a Christian nation. Christianity became the ‘state religion’. Prayers were offered in schools. Individuals going to court would swear on the Bible. The moral fabric of the nation was almost inseparably interwoven with the principles of God and Godliness. But now, look what has happened? Officially sanctioned prayer has been taken out of the school system, people “affirm” that they will tell the truth, abortion is available on demand. And people call this a Christian nation.
But let’s consider – what does religious freedom mean? Does it mean that I am free from the state religion of the Old World and free to impose a new state religion? I think not. If religious freedom truly is our goal, then we need to stop relying on government and school to uphold from without the principles and values we see as important, and to rely more on God’s work in us, and his work through us – the personal evangelism as we influence our families and our friends to love the God that we know.
We cannot legislate morality, and it’s not a victory
to have prayer required in a school system when the principle of choice
is trampled under. Denominational schools exist for those parents
who see the value of a Christian education. God gave us choice.
He expects us to give that same freedom to others.
There’s a funny thing about airports… there are really only two kinds of passengers: those who are in a hurry, and those who have time to kill. And you should be able to spot them instantly: the ones in a hurry are focused, directed, moving forward quickly, with no time for diversions. I was waiting for Air Canada to take a look at my quickly expiring open ticket and across from the ticket windows a guy was sitting at a table with a set of “Economic Intelligence Review” magazine and posters denouncing “London’s Genocide in Africa”. He was hailing everyone who passed to stop and take a look at what he was offering. And people just passed him straight! Some not a look, some, not a second look. They had a goal, a focus, a direction, and nothing was going to stop them from getting there.
The others, are between flights, or have delayed flights, or came to the airport far too early because they felt the roads might be congested. These are the ones you’ll see walking leisurely, playing in the arcades, relaxing in the cafeteria, or maybe even sleeping. These people might stop at the table and chat with the guy
(Note: I felt sorry for the guy, so I made use of some idle time while my ticket agent went into the back to call Winnipeg or something, and paid him a quick visit… www.larousepub.com should be his organization’s site, if you’re interested) but most likely they’d pass him by like I pass by the Trinidadian street lottery ticket vendors. (Not really a good analogy, because sometimes if they actually speak to me, “Hey, come, you, buy a ticket, the draw is tomorrow!” I might reply, “Yes, but Jesus might come today”, which for some reason greatly angered one particular woman on Brian Lara Promenade, maybe because it triggered some dissonance in her… but I digress)
The contrast between these two groups of people is particularly interesting. Both have a goal (getting on a plane) and a destination (wherever is listed on their ticket). One group is moving quickly toward the goal, the other group is distracted or sleeping, doing things which are beneficial, but not immediately related to the goal. The difference is, one group senses the immediacy of their goal, and therefore it’s a priority. The other group (and understandably so) does not, and therefore it’s not. I think there’s a lesson here for those of us waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. Do we sense that immediacy? Or are we distracted and sleeping?
Something to think about…
Off to the plane =)
See you in Trinidad, God willing, and BWIA agreeing!
=)