Recently, I was speaking at a ladies retreat near Calgary, Alberta. After a long weekend, I really wanted to bring home a gift to my family for them having to do without me for so long! I hadn't had time to get out and shop, and as I was in the hotel the last evening, I knew my wish to go souvenir shopping the next morning was not going to happen as I had to get to the airport early.
I decided to take an early shuttle to the airport in hopes that I could find some things to take home at the little shops in the terminal. As I wondered around, I just prayed a simple prayer that God would help me find something meaningful to take home to the children. Several things caught my eye for various children, but I knew I didn't have time to do individual shopping. I needed to find a gift for the entire family.
Not long after my prayer, I spotted a large container of 100% maple syrup in a beautiful, glass
Because this was a duty free shop and beyond airport security, all items purchased there were allowed on the plane. I carefully packaged it and placed it in my carry on luggage and happily went on my way.
What neither I nor the helpful cashier knew was that while it was legal to take the syrup on the plane and while the cashier had dutifully stamped my receipt to show that it was a "safe" liquid to transport, when I got to Newark, there was going to be a problem...
When I got to Newark, I knew I didn't have a lot of time to spare to get to my next flight so I quickly started heading toward my next gate, but every time I headed where the signs pointed, I saw that I was going to have to leave the secure area and I didn't want to have to go through the long lines of security again. I finally asked and was told that, yes, I would have to leave the gate I was at, go out into the airport, and wait in line again in security and go through the whole thing again to get to my new gate.
I finally arrived and went through all the details of taking shoes off, taking the laptop out, removing my coat, etc when the TSA lady told me that she was going to have to search my briefcase more. I nonchalantly agreed knowing that there wasn't anything in there that was going to slow me down and keep me from getting to my gate on time.
She kept looking through my bag until she finally pulled out my carefully wrapped bottle of maple syrup. She said, "You can't take this. This is a liquid, and we don't allow liquids on the plane." I patiently (maybe) told her that I had bought it at a duty free store and had the appropriate documentation to show her. She wouldn't back down. "Oh, no," she said, "They had to put this in a special sealed bag in order for you to take it on the plane. " We went back and forth a few times with me making the point that, after all, I had already traveled across most of the U.S. with my maple syrup securely wrapped in my briefcase and no one had stopped me yet. I wasn't about to give in and leave my maple syrup to be eaten by some airport security agent!
She told me that my options were to leave the syrup or walk all the way back to United Airlines and ship it. That was bordering on the ridiculous since not only did I not want to pay to ship my maple syrup, but I did not have time to go all the way back to ship it. Finally, I just told her to keep it because I didn't have time to go back. She looked at her watch and realized that I couldn't go back and get my flight, and I pictured in my mind sadly returning home with the one gift that I wanted to bring home for Christmas day to my family.
As soon as I had resigned myself to leaving it, the agent said, "If you want to go back to ship it, I'll put you at the front of the line in security again." Well, I knew I still wouldn't have time to find my way across the big airport and make it back in time, so I told her that I didn't have time. She paused and looked at me again and said, "If you want this maple syrup, I will go with you and help you to get this maple syrup."
Now, I don't have a very high regard for TSA agents in general as most of the time, it appears they are just out to ruin my day and make things difficult. However, this short lady was making me a kind offer that I was finding hard to refuse. After all, she was offering to leave her place at the scanners, take me back through the airport and help me get my maple syrup! I said, "Ok, let's do it."
She grabbed my heavy bag and started heading through the airport. I tried to keep up with her as she took off through the areas so familiar to her. After all, I didn't want to lose track of her as she had my maple syrup, my bag, my passport, my computer AND my maple syrup!
We quickly arrived at the United counter and she went right up and began talking to the agent and asked if they could help me out. The agent wasn't in quite as generous of a mood to see me take my maple syrup and said that no, I would have to pay $25-30 to ship the syrup. That seemed absurd to me because if it had been in a special sealed bag, they would have carried it for free for me on board the plane, but because the cashier in Canada had failed to do her job and had actually lightened their load by about 3 ounces (the weight of the bag), I would have to pay this fee to put it in the cargo area of the plane. I tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't be moved. I would have to pay. Finally I said one last time, "You wouldn't even let me put it in my bag if I smiled nice at you?" She didn't see the humor in my question, but she said that she would! I gave her a quick smile and stuffed it in my bag. The TSA agent was telling me that we had to hurry so I left the bag with her and started quickly trying to follow her through the crowd.
After a moment, we got to a security gate and she went toward the front just as she told me she would, but the man in charge said, "We're closed for the night here." Then my angel TSA agent turned to me and said, "We're not going to make it in time then because we have to go clear across to another gate." We started to turn around then, and I knew I might have to resign myself to missing my flight, when it looked like she had a sudden burst of inspiration. She suddenly headed toward one of those doors that I'm always afraid one of my kids will accidentally push on and open. It was the entrance to the secured area of the airport where "normal" people are never allowed. A guard was standing outside of it. She approached the man and said, "May I go through here." He said, "You're the TSA. You can do whatever you want." She didn't ask again. She barged right through the door, and I found myself deep in the bowels of the airport where people like me are never supposed to be. She said, "This is a short cut, and we'll come out right where we need to be." This time I made sure I stayed close to her because I didn't want to end up in a prison cell somewhere trying to explain how I got into that part of the airport!
Soon we opened a door, and there we were at another security gate. She approached the agent at the front, and he said the same thing as the last guy, "We just closed here." She decided that she was the TSA again and could do what she wanted so she said, "Well, we're going to do one more bag..." and she plopped my bag right down in front of him. He didn't argue so I figured that she must have had more badges on her uniform than him, so he started processing my stuff all over again. As soon as she saw that I was going to make it through the gate, she walked off, and I never saw her again. Quickly I gathered my things together, got to the gate and had about three minutes to spare before boarding.
As I sat down in the plane, I was smiling, and I felt that God was smiling too. He loves to give good gifts to His children! An added benefit was that I didn't have to worry about crashing on the last leg of that flight, as I felt pretty sure that God wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to get my maple syrup on the plane just to see it crash to the ground!
Christmas morning came and went, and as I poured that maple syrup, not only was it delicious, but it had a story to tell--a story of how God can use the most unlikely of people and circumstances to work out good in our lives. Now, whenever I see the beautiful glass leaf, I can remember God's faithfulness and love toward me. God truly cares for us and sometimes goes the extra mile just to let us know!
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