Tibet or Tarmac?

Did you ever wonder what it must be like to be a baggage handler in a busy metropolitan airport?

All day long slinging suitcases tagged with exotic departures and destinations -Tibet…Madagascar…Tahiti. Watching important-looking executives and tanned, carefree families sweep through the terminal on their way to and from balmy islands and high adventure. Processing luggage, ensuring comfort, greatly aiding in the success of business trip and romantic getaway. Constant through the toasted-tarmac heat of summer and the knifing winds of winter, with head and feet firmly planted on the ground.

It reminds me of one Old Testament incident in which David sets out with 600 men, intent on recovering the possessions, wives, and children that the enemy has stolen from them. But by the time David comes to Besor Ravine, 200 are to exhausted to go on, so the remaining men pursue the enemy and recover all that had been taken. On the way back, they meet with the ones who had “stayed on the tarmac.” Although some of the victorious men declare that these deserve no reward, David is adamant:

”The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle” (1 Sam. 30:24 NIV).

I believe that he was applying a godly principle. When it comes to spiritual battle and the pursuit of the enemy onto foreign soil through missions, short-term or long, God likewise values the efforts of those who stay behind – providing they are dressed for battle, have participated to the fullest of their ability, have kept their head in the game, have stayed with the supplies.

So the question that convicts me as I work in the terminal, watching people come and go from the DR and South America and Poland and Russia is… am I working hard at my job to fulfill the Great Commission in the place God has put me? Am I as called in my giving and praying as others are in their going, or do I lob up random prayers and give a few dollars whenever and wherever my heartstrings are pulled?

I believe that the Great Commission calls me to be intentional and focused and wholly committed, whether on my knees or out of my earnings or on a jet headed out for high adventure.

Maybe I’m not the only baggage-handler that has been challenged anew this week…