One Minute Late For The Plane

“Last call for Henderson and Hernandez.”  It was eleven minutes until the plane was scheduled to depart.  At ten minutes to departure, the airline released the seats for this party of two and allowed two passengers who had been victims of an oversell to board in their place.  At nine minutes to departure, here come Henderson and Hernandez.  They were husband and wife, and they had been swallowed up by the long security lines at George H.W. Bush International.  They were livid.  They were in disbelief.  They used very foul language.  They threatened.  They pleaded.  She was told of airline policy (actually, airlines can release seats fifteen minutes before departure), to which she responded, “But, we were only one minute late!”

One of the most sobering songs in our songbook is entitled “Almost Persuaded.”  The wording is drawn from Paul’s conversation with Agrippa in Acts 26, with the idea that many will come very close to becoming Christians but will tragically decide that Jesus is Lord too late (cf. Phil. 2:9-11).  Have you ever wondered who will be the last person deliberating the decision to become a Christian when the trumpet sounds and the dead in Christ rise?  Why do we delay?  And at what cost do we procrastinate?

I was not privy to what had happened to them that caused them to miss their flight.  Did their alarm fail them?  Were they involved in an auto incident?  Did they get lost?  That could explain things.  Or, they could have waited too long to leave the house, overslept, or failed to leave themselves the time to encounter a TSA terror.  But, one thing is certain.  Their tardiness kept them from boarding their flight.

What keeps many from success?  What will keep many from heaven?  They were going to do what they should, but they did not get around to it in time!  That has pertinence to our daily schedules and our overall success.  It has relevance to whether or not we go to heaven.  Do not live decide to live for Jesus even one minute too late!

–Neal Pollard