02 15 05

The
distance I have to travel from
one airport gate to another to
make a flight is an indication
to me that God is alive and
watching everything that I do.
You know in the Bible, it says
that His eye is even upon the
sparrow. Well, I am certain that
means His eye is upon me as
well.

Whenever I need to lose weight
and exercise more, the gates I
arrive at and depart from are
placed as far as you can go
without actually leaving the
airport. I suppose if I really
needed big time help, I’d
probably have to get outside the
airport and walk a couple of
miles down the road to catch my
next flight. For example,
Houston has a new terminal. When
I arrive the other day, I just
truck on down to where my
airline has always been, totally
unaware that they have run their
flights from the new terminal as
well. You’d think someone would
tell you this in advance, but
no, that’s God’s little ha-ha
and shame on me for not asking
before I was dropped off. So,
here I am with my luggage
without wheels, I don’t think I
need them because I’m tough and
in shape, right? Wrong.

Terminal C is very far from
terminal E. My old body is
dragging by the time I get to
the gate and flop down in my
seat. But I think to myself,
well I’ll be alright once I
check into the hotel. Not going
to happen. God still has his eye
on me. He hasn’t forgotten.

When I arrive at the hotel, the
only, and I mean the only place
to park is right by the front
door. This should have been my
first clue that something was
going to be amiss once I checked
into my room. It was.

This hotel is built like a
bowling alley. Long and narrow.
Very long and narrow. Extremely
long and narrow. Did I mention
that it’s very long and narrow?
Now picture this…I’m at the
front desk with my non-wheeling
luggage and what room do I get?
If you said close to the front
desk, you’d be as wrong as you
could be. My room is the last
one on the first floor at the
end of the hallway as far as you
can go without leaving the
building. I’m noticing a trend
here. I insert the electronic
key into the door, what happens?
You know what happens, it
doesn’t work. So, now I have to
march back to the front desk (I
did leave my luggage in the
hallway) and get a key that
worked, then back to the room.
This time I manage to get
inside, and then think to
myself, let’s look outside and
see if there are any parking
places closer to the rear
entrance and then in the morning
I won’t have to lug all of this
stuff back to the front of the
hotel. Down that long and narrow
hallway, far, far away.

Am I in luck or what? There’s
one space left. I put my shoes
back on, hurry to the front
lobby, get to the car, drive to
the back and arrive just in time
to see some elderly couple
trying to get their luggage out
of their trunk and up the
walkway. Dejected I drive back
to the front lot only to find my
space gone and another one open
about 200 yards further away. I
manage to make it back inside my
room and start to lie down, when
I notice some things that I
hadn’t noticed before. First
off, I can’t find the light
switch to the bathroom. Then
once I locate it, I find that
it’s not on the wall where it
usually is located, but down
about a foot. Then I notice I
don’t have a tub, just a tiled
floor, with a shower curtain.

I’ve been put in a room designed
for a handicapped person.

Now, I could go back up that
long hallway and ask for a
regular room, but to tell the
truth I’m just too tired to do
so. I decide to just deal with
it.

The closets are different since
they are designed for someone in
a wheel chair. It seems as
thought the bed and countertops
are lower to the ground than
normal and then there’s that
shower thing. No tub, just a
tiled floor with a drain. With
the bed being lower to the
ground, it makes it harder to
put your socks on in the
morning.

But, you know there’s a lesson
for me in this. First of all, I
need to exercise more and eat
less. Second, I’m not
handicapped, or in a wheel chair
as many folks are. Bless their
hearts. My life is a piece of
cake. It should be my life is a
salad. I need to take this
experience as a sign to
straighten up and fry less.

I should be thankful for what
I’ve got and not what I think I
need. Perhaps it’s God’s way of
showing me what some others go
though just to get a good nights
sleep in a hotel somewhere. It’s
also to show me that I need to
take better care of myself.