Pride comes before the fall.
I know I know it has been a while..... so for a short mini update Chris moved to Lincoln, NE in August 08'. I did not. BUT..... at midnight on Dec 31st we got engaged and so I will be getting married on May 9th and then moving to Lincoln as well. I plan to do a this is 2008 blog with pics from the year and everything, but right now I am just going to provide a short story.
Over the last 5 months Chris and I have been traveling back and forth between Dyersburg and NE about every other week or so, and taking turns doing the traveling. I have gotten really good at getting airline tickets, knowing when to get the best deal and everything. The one thing I have strived for most is to get the A1 seat on southwest. Really the only way you are going to get it is to buy the business select ticket, which is a more expensive ticket, but sometimes it is only ten dollars more. You can check in 24 hours before the flight so get a good number for loading, so I have also become good at watching the clock and checking in. I once checked in at exactly 24 hours before and was given the A45 seat. So this is a skill you have to practice at. You see, I like to get my favorite seat on southwest..... the very back row next to the window because I want to be at the back of the plane if it crashes since you always see the tail sticking up in a plane crash..... so this is where i want to be. Also, there is a door close for a quick exit.
Well, when I purchased my ticket to come to Lincoln this weekend, the cheapest tickets were sold out and the business select ticket was at a reasonable price so I dished out the extra 6 dollars and then began my wait for the on-line check in time. Tuesday came and when I checked in......BAM A3 for the first flight then BAM BAM A1 for the second flight .....SCORE!!!!!!! I finally did it .... I got the coveted loading number .... group A person ONE... the first out of many!! So I fly out of Nashville and into Chicago Midway. I take my time, get some grub with a smirk on my face because I have the golden ticket ... I have A1.
When I get to the gate at boarding time I notice that there are a lot of people already in line to board, but wait, the group numbers are not even posted yet... "what is this, " I ask myself. I ask some of the people sitting, thinking maybe this is a previous flight that still hasn't left yet. Then I found out...... there was a flight before that had about 40 people on board who were through passengers, but for some reason they need to make a aircraft change and had the passengers get off in order to board another plane ...... my plane.... and these 40 were going to get to board first!! In 1 sec I went from A 1 to A 41. I was no longer first, but somewhere in the middle.
As I was standing there at the Marker 1-5 watching the 40 pass me by as they boarded before me I realized something, or more exactly, I opened my eyes to what God was saying to me at that moment. He used this tiny insignificant event in my life to show me that we may think we are numero Uno, and that it is all about numero uno, but in reality we are just one number in a billion numbers. We are just one in the middle of many. What we do with our position in life is up to us. I could have caused a scene and demanded I be boarded first, since I did have A1, I could have gotten all the other A 1-40 fired up and rushed the skyway, but I did not. not because I didn't want to, because part of me did, but for two reasons. Because I knew that I was not any more important, or my needs were not any more important than the "40 through passengers" and because if I did storm the plane I would not be here writing this now, but sitting in jail in Omaha.
